


The Aquila and The Purple Pimpernel

by Sleepy_fan



Series: Superhero series [1]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Father/Son Incest, M/M, Modern AU, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-04-29 08:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14469123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleepy_fan/pseuds/Sleepy_fan
Summary: The Aquila (Connor Ratonhnhake:ton Hill) fights off robots, and tries to solve the mystery behind the attacks. Along the way he gets to know the enigmatic and charming Telepathic Order hero, The Silver Wolf.





	1. Chapter 1

Connor woke up exhausted and sore - but given what he had been doing until very late last night, the young man was entirely unsurprised to find out that he felt so awful. The events of what had happened last night hit him all at once, and the young hero tried to get up - frowning in confusion as he realized that he was handcuffed to a chair - both his legs and arms shackled down. This was not at all how he had gone to bed late last night... Or had it been very early this  morning? The fight had lasted a long time, and he'd spent a little while with a certain person, coming down from the adrenaline high, and discussing with him the implications of what they had discovered had been driving the villain that they had just barely beaten together. "What the?" Connor mumbled to himself as he tugged a little at his restraints, trying to understand just what was going on.

"Now that you are awake, the council asks that you cease trying to escape your bonds and pay attention." A commanding and slightly irritated voice called up from high above him.

The young hero squinted a little, as his eyes adjusted to the bright light shining down directly onto  his face, realizing with a jolt of terror and confusion that he had been brought before The Council - and given the fact that he had been shackled to the chair in his pajamas while he was asleep, this did not bode well. But why had they done such a thing? Connor couldn't begin to guess what they thought he'd done. "A-Alright, although I... I don't know why I'm here..." That wasn't precisely true, as the young man gradually started to wake up. But he'd been careful - and it wasn't as if he  had done anything egregious enough to be dragged before the council like this.

"Don't you? We have damning evidence in our possession.  However, if you require more coaxing, I will read to you the charges that have been laid against you. You should be aware that confessing what you have done will mean a kinder sentence, than if you are convicted of these crimes without admitting to them." The person continued, shifting a little as he stared down at Connor dismissively.

Mentor Chevalier was glaring down at him, sneering and derisive. No one in the group of young heroes that Connor worked with liked the pompous, self-important asshole, and if Chevalier was involved, this could go from bad to ugly really fast - particularly since Connor had made it clear in the past that he had no desire whatsoever to bow down to the French asshole's self-aggrandizing bullshit. Apparently that was going to  bite him in the ass now - or he was going to try. Hopefully the truth would will out in Connor's favor. "I still have no idea as to what you're accusing me of, mentor Chevalier."

The French hero clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he turned to the council "Do you see, honored council members, how dismissive and flippant he is? I do apologize for his cheek and the fact that he has the gall to speak without being asked a question."

"The boy just woke up." One of the council members spoke, interjecting before Chevalier could continue talking "Read the list of crimes that he has been accused of."

"Of course, honored council member." Chevalier responded, bowing to the person who had spoken, expression that of the utmost polite contriteness, before he turned back to where Connor was sitting, sneering down at him "You, Connor Ratonhnhaké:ton Hill, have been accused of publicly consorting with a member of The Order, and you have been caught by civilian cameras, in uniform, aiding and abetting The Silver Wolf. There is photographic evidence of you doing so, as The Aquila, during times that you were not on a Brotherhood sanctioned mission. In addition to this,  you did not report that you were aiding said Order Hero on an emergency basis, which might have been retroactively approved, and conditionally approved for further action, had you admitted what you were doing then, so long as you kept out of the camera lenses of inquisitive civilians. There is also the matter of the mission last night, which ended disastrously. The working identities of more than a half-dozen young Brotherhood heroes were exposed last night, although that will be addressed later. How do you plead?"

"I... What?" Connor sputtered, eyes widening a little as his heart sank. He had been helping the Silver Wolf occasionally for the past year- but he had thought that he'd been able to avoid any cameras... And it wasn't as if the young man had lingered long enough after the crime that had been committed, or the hostage scene ended successfully, that he might have been seen by a reporter. He had always left as soon as he was sure that the danger had passed. As for last night - The council had to be warned about a very dangerous, very large threat that could bring everything they held dear to a crashing halt, if not dealt with immediately. "The... About the mission last night, I need to tell you about something. It... it's connected to the rise of powered villains in this and other cities for the past five years. Why those who had previously been content to lead lives as they had been, decided to cause pain and mayhem! If you'll allow me to go back to my room, I have all of the evidence I've put together over the past few months, to prove that all of us may be in a grave amount of danger!"

Connor could  hear some quiet murmuring from the councilors, and a couple of them seemed to be leaning towards allowing him to do so. But Chevalier spoke up, silencing the quiet murmuring "Cease your prattle, boy. Trying to distract the council with whatever shadows you are frantically trying to come up with for them to chase, instead of your breach in the Code will not distract from the true purpose of why you have been brought before the council." Chevalier growled, glaring down at the young man. "Besides, how am I, or the council, to believe that you even have this supposed information in your room in the first place, and that this isn't a pathetically transparent attempt to escape the justice that you so richly deserve. Considering your spotless record before now, the Council decided to give you a chance to defend your actions, to explain why you have done what you have. It is more than you deserve, in my opinion. Acting like a member of The Order of heroes, by allowing yourself to be photographed in uniform - I wonder if you have an interview scheduled with one of the local news outlets, to regale them of the tales of dashing  heroism and death defying stunts that you have pulled as your career as a hero."

"That is quite enough, Joseph." Another of the council spoke, voice calm, but somewhat rebuking. The council member moved a little, leaning so that his weathered face was more easily seen. Achilles was looking down at him, his expression a mixture of exasperation at Chevalier's and a not-fully concealed expression of disappointed curiosity that made Connor feel incredibly guilty and awful. The old man had practically raised him, after his mother had died. "I know that you admire the Silver Wolf - and for good reason. Despite the fact that he is a member of the order, and flaunts his heroic actions in the world, he has done many great things in service to the public. Perhaps the temptation to work with him proved to be too much, as you have been living in the same city that he most often works in, both as a professor and as a hero?" The other's voice was calm, and the other's words felt gently prodding to the young man.

"You taught me that to stand aside and do nothing, while civilians are in danger and are being threatened, is just as bad as participating in the villainy that lead to them being threatened, mentor Davenport. There were a couple of times that I had happened to be in the same area of town that someone was committing a villainous act, so I changed into my Aquila uniform and stepped in, without being sent on a mission to do so... And occasionally, during those times, the Silver Wolf did step in to aid the civilians as well. Should I have let them suffer, waiting for one of the Order to step in and save them? I left as soon as I ascertained the safety of the civilians - and that the villain or villains involved had been subdued."

"So you admit to consorting with the Silver Wolf! I wonder if the rumors of the two of you having sordid relations with one another are true as well. Honored council members, given that he has admitted to some of his crimes, I move that we-" Chevalier began, his eyes full of a strange, almost vicious sort of cruelty that caused Connor to shiver a little. The French Hero had always tended towards more than a little draconian when it came to the rules, but this...

"That is quite enough, Chevalier." Another council member rebuked "We should continue to question him about when and why he acted, as from what he has previously stated, there were mitigating circumstances. We have all been young and overeager to help, which is not a bad thing. Such energy needs to be directed appropriately. Although I am curious as to whether or not you have had any... Romantic entanglements with the Silver Wolf. There are rumors that the two of you are close - which could be quite useful, although you would be reprimanded for not reporting such a thing, when it was first beginning. To hide that in front of the council, as we will find out the truth of such rumors... Will result in harsher punishment, if you do not confess the truth."

Connor's mind was racing in a dozen directions at once. He remembered something that the villain that he'd barely managed to take down with quite a lot of help  had said, after they had shaken off the control of the Piece Of Eden - that... That there were more than a couple people corrupted by the power of the piece of Eden - being controlled as puppets by someone who had global plans for control and rule the world through fear, misery and a show of force that wouldn't be stopped. The plan was already in motion, but before the controlled villain could explain more, they had died - killed by a remote controlled cyanide pill, the effects of which, Connor had been unable to counteract in time to save their life, and gather more very necessary information from. The young man's thoughts came to a violent halt when they brought up potential romantic relations with the Silver Wolf and the young hero found himself blushing violently. "I... That... We... What?" Connor managed out, feeling himself blush darker and darker.

Achilles sighed, murmuring "Some of us are aware of your... Celebrity crush on the Silver Wolf, and there are those among the Order who have taken advantage of such crushes in the past." There was something almost... Kind or pitying in the mentor's voice "If he had discovered your feelings towards him, it would not surprise me if the Wolf might have thought to lure you to the Order, using your feelings for him, and your eagerness to help others to lead you down a path, that would expose your heroic identity to the public, as they are unaware that the Order and the Brotherhood are two different organizations, as there are a few publicly known Heroes who are of the Brotherhood, though the false assumption otherwise suits our purposes."

Connor startled a little at the other's words, a flash of pain appearing and disappearing on his face. Haytham... Haytham wouldn't use him like that, would he? No. The young man was well aware of the long tradition and deep, bitter rivalry between the two organizations that, while hadn't been violent in over a century, had once been the source of a lot of bloodshed and wasted resources on both sides, too busy fighting one another to be effective in truly aiding the public. "I... I don't know what you expect me to say, although it is true that I... I have a bit of a.. A celebrity crush on the Silver Wolf." The distant crush had turned into something more real, as Connor had gotten to know Haytham - though he had only very recently learned the other's true name. They had kissed last night, after that terrible fight, with the promise of perhaps more later, but he wasn't sure it was going to turn into anything.

"There is the matter of the fact that the mission last night went very wrong. The mark that all of you had been sent after to kill did die - that was after most of your teammates had been captured, and though you did work quickly to hack the Purple Pimpernel's video broadcast system, so that the public only saw about twenty minutes of that particular villain monologue on about what they planned on doing to the city - and  how they hoped to use the young heroes they had captured in order to force the police to capitulate with their demands, those twenty minutes exposed the heroic identities of your teammates. I am curious as to how you were the only one to escape the capture - and if you had contacted the Silver Wolf, in order to have him aid you in rescuing your teammates. You should have called into the Brotherhood first, as though we wouldn't have been able to send more experienced agents in before the Silver Wolf appeared, you mishandled that situation." One of the other council members rebuked.

"I did call into the brotherhood first! I was able to contact Mentor Chevalier - who said it was their own fault that they were - and I'm quoting him directly "their own fault that they were so stupid as to get captured.  Hack Pimpernell's feed and rescue them yourself, or are you too much a coward?" end quote. So I hung up and... and I did call the Silver Wolf for help, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to save my teammates by myself - not without putting them into a lot more danger." Connor protested, dark eyes flashing with anger as he did his best to reign in his temper. "And about that fight... After my f... Teammates were rescued by myself and the Silver Wolf, all of us faced off against the Purple Pimpernel- the information that we had been given about their powers was incorrect - they had a lot more physical strength than the twice an average human as reported. In fact all of their abilities were more enhanced - by at least double - what had been given to us on the brief. And I... After Pimpernel-"

Chevalier interrupted him, almost glowing with fury, as he shouted, eyes strangely glassy "Are you accusing me of improperly handling the situation, you treacherous little shit? I was born into the Brotherhood - you have no right to accuse me of such a thing, and  you certainly shouldn't have called that pompous blowhard for help. You didn't answer how you were able to escape capture - then again, I bet that you didn't go when the others did, instead cowering on the outside of the Purple Pimpernel's Hideout, realizing that you needed to actually get off of your lazy, pathetic arse when your teammates were captured!"

"That is quite enough, Mentor Chevalier. If you cannot contain your vitriol, you will be removed from these court proceedings." Achilles responded, frowning at the French hero as he spoke, a hint of irritation in his voice. "How were you able to get into contact with the Silver Wolf, in order to ask him for help?"

"I had just finished taking the class he offers at the university - one of the classes on learning on how to control the heroic talent or talents that you have. I was curious as to how he taught people, and as I had... I had just discovered then that I could turn into an eagle - which was how I was able to escape, as I could fly, and was better able to dodge the traps that Pimpernel had in place for any heroes who were going to be stopping them. But there's something that you need to know about Pimpernel. They were being c-" Connor explained, about to start talking about what he had found out from them, after the end of the fight. Pimpernel had surrendered, when Haytham's teeth (in Wolf form) had been at the other's throat, having been in a knock-down drag-out fight with over a half-dozen incredibly irritated Brotherhood heroes and one Order hero. If what Pimpernel had been telling them was the truth (Which Haytham believed - and as the other was a telepath, Connor didn't doubt the veracity of those statements) then they were facing a crisis, the likes of which were unheard of previously.

"And just when were you going to inform at least your immediate superiors that you had gained a new ability? Or were you planning on keeping that to yourself?" Chevalier interrupted again, his accent nearly impossible for Connor to understand, the other was so furious.

"I was planning on informing my superiors when I had full control over the ability. I'm still having difficulties with being able to switch forms when I want to, rather than under intense emotional or physical distress. As the Silver Wolf is the only hero in either the Order or the Brotherhood I have heard of in the states, it  made sense to learn from him, as there is only so much purely theoretical learning will help someone." Connor answered honestly. That was not the only newly developed ability that Connor had decided to learn how to control while going through the Silver Wolf's classes, but he wasn't going to admit to the council he had the other ability - as the chance of him ever seeing daylight again, except under heavy guard, was slim to nothing. Not that the second ability was so dangerous... But because it was so very rare.

Chevalier was still a horrifying shade of purple red, but he could hear the council members murmuring rather understanding words quietly to one another. Eventually they stopped talking, and Achilles spoke again, saying "While your reasoning so far is understandable, your actions speak of needing more intensive training, among other things. Once you have undergone punitive retraining, I am certain that you will be an effective and careful member of the Brotherhood."

Connor's eyes widened a little in horror, shaking a little. He had heard some awful stories as to what that actually entailed, and had no desire to have his personality restructured by several of the Brotherhood's telepaths, his mind rearranged to suit the needs and desires of those who had ordered it to be done "I... W-what?" Why was Chevalier acting like this, especially since the other had… But that wasn’t official.

"The extensiveness of the retraining will be decided within the day. Stay on base, please." Achilles responded "I will be... Very disappointed if you try to run, Connor. However, as you have brought up a few points that indicate that others have mismanaged what is going on, a telepath will be brought in to review the memories of what happened last night - for yourself, your teammates, and for Mentor Chevalier, who was the one whom you said had denied you the aid that your teammates needed."

"Why must I be examined, mentor Davenport? This little shit has been lying and hiding things from us for the past year! He must be punished as harshly as possible!" Chevalier protested, clearly livid and insulted by the idea of being investigated as well.

Before anything else could happen, or anyone else could speak or attempt to do anything, the ceiling of the council chambers collapsed, causing dust to go everywhere. Someone threw a smoke bomb through the hole, causing the visibility to go down to nothing, as everyone started to cough due to the particulates in the air. Connor felt a pair of hands quickly untie his restraints, before he was lifted from the chair and bodily hauled up and away. The young man was still blinking smoke from his eyes, as he reflected back on just what had gotten him into this predicament in the first place.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The young man fidgeted a little, uncertain. He had been taking college classes, in addition to his high school level courses, as all of the young Brotherhood heroes had been, at least the group that Connor trained with the most, had been. Each of them knew a half-dozen languages (in part because during some times of the year, they lived in Montegerroni, Italy, and other times of the year they lived in Masayf or a hidden compound in China that had contact with a small, local village, the name of which Connor had never been able to learn, in addition to living in the US. He was one of the youngest of the people going through the medical program at the university - and Connor's goal was to become a doctor.

His university bills were being paid for by the Brotherhood - as they required trustworthy doctors, who knew the reasons why certain things were happening, and who would thus not push for explanation as to why the patients they saw on a regular basis were injured in the ways that were indicative to either a life of fighting crime, or being physically abused. Connor had wanted to help people since he was very young, and while he did feel that he was helping people, working for the Brotherhood as one of their agents, the young man was also determined to become a doctor - and not simply because he was aware that Dr. White was going to be retiring in a little over ten years, but because the young man was fairly certain that he would be able to be of more help tending to the injuries that others acquired.

Connor could also admit silently to himself, that he also... He didn't want to kill, and he knew that the longer he worked with the brotherhood, the more likely that he would be to be sent on a kill mission. Ezio, Altair and Aveline were the only ones to have gone on kill missions, where they were the ones who were to kill the corrupt politician, or super villain who was too dangerous to try to quietly capture and try to rehabilitate. Connor had seen how they had changed after the event, and he knew that each of them occasionally had nightmares about their kills - and the young man knew that he wouldn't be able to handle killing someone nearly as well as the three of them had. They spoke in low, quiet tones about what they had done, and the guilt and uncertainty that still plagued them - even though  what they had done was for the protection of the public.

But the reason why Connor was taking the class that he was currently preparing for, had nothing to do with his desire to become a doctor - and everything to do with a couple of abilities that he had very recently discovered he had - and one of which he was very hesitant to bring to his superiors - or even mention to his fellow Brotherhood heroes in training. On the last mission that Evie, Jacob, Malik and Kadar had gone on, all four of them had come back badly injured, if barely victorious. Connor had been summoned to the infirmary, as he had enough knowledge to help the infirmary staff tend to his friends - and his presence there had also been a soothing one - as Kadar and Jacob's powers in particular were acting in instinctual defense of both the owner of said abilities and their beloved sibling as well. Once the two nurses had rushed off to find the physician - as none of the four of them had been very stable, and the physician who was usually on hand was off elsewhere in the building and needed to be found, Kadar had weakly asked Connor to sing him a lullaby - sounding so very young at the time (and as Kadar was several years younger, he shouldn't have gone on such a dangerous mission. But he had insisted, and there was no way that Malik would let him go on a mission like that without him) and Connor had agreed, gently brushing the other's hair out of his face, realizing that his hands were glowing softly - and that Kadar was stabilizing. Once he finished the song, Kadar's breathing and vital signs were much closer to normal, and Connor had felt only a little more tired than he had been.

Realizing that he'd been able to help one of them, Connor had sung to each of them, panting and shaking a little by the time that he finished, barely able to stand. But their wounds had stopped bleeding, and all four of their vital signs had stabilized. By the time the nurses had come back with the physician, Connor  could pretend to just be worriedly fussing over one of his friends, rather than barely able to stand, because he had over-used an ability that he had just discovered he had.

The ability to heal others the way that he'd been able to was incredibly rare - and the three members of the Brotherhood whom Connor had even heard of being able to do so were a couple hundred years apart - and all of whom had been placed in the best protected Brotherhood fortress ... Or in this time, probably an underground bunker or a small town that was entirely controlled and populated by members of the Brotherhood, as well as their spouses and children, and the last thing that Connor wanted was to be trapped in a place like that, either only occasionally flown out to where he was needed most, or stuck tending to the whims and needs of the highest ranking members of the brotherhood, in whichever country he ended up living in. But the young man was also aware that he needed to learn how to control the healing ability... And he hoped that going to the Silver Wolf's basic power manipulation and understanding class would help him do so - and the fact that he was going to the university, and would have more than a handful or two of classmates learning how to control their abilities as well, would deter the other from informing other members of the Order and having him taken away somewhere for "his own protection" or something like that.

Not that he was going to show that particular ability on his first month of class. No, Connor planned on revealing a bit of his enhanced senses - and the fact that he could shape shift into an Eagle ... Not that Connor could control when he turned into an Eagle, nor for how long. That had happened last week, when he'd been badly startled by Ezio and Arno - who had decided to play a prank on him. None of the three of them had been expecting an oversized eagle to be plummeting to the ground where he had just been standing, after the two of them had chucked something very loud and very bright directly at him.

Arno - who had been closer - managed to catch him before he hit the ground. Connor hand been frantically flapping his wings, desperate to keep himself balanced, but only managed to whack Arno repeatedly on the face and neck and shoulders. Ten minutes later, and after the young man had given up trying to will himself back into a human form (as Ezio and Arno murmured anxiously to one another, in between trying to get him to turn back) Connor had suddenly turned back into his human form - and had been ravenously hungry as soon as he remembered how his legs worked.

As none of the mentors that the three of them could name had a shape shifting ability, Connor had managed to get the two of them not to mention it to anyone else - and if he guilt tripped them a little about startling him so badly... Then they rather deserved it, in his opinion. they had been the ones to startle him so badly in the first place, and none of the three of them wanted him shipped off somewhere else to learn how to control that particular ability - as there were a couple of shape shifting mentors in Masayf who could teach him... But that would upend his carefully laid  plans about becoming a doctor - as he would have to take online classes, and would end up having to transfer to a local university... At least while he learned how to control the shape shifting ability, and the young man wasn't sure how long that would take - or how well the more traditional mentors in Masayf would take to him trying to become a doctor, without a reason other than he had a knack for medicine, and a drive to help people.

Connor was also aware that in Masayf, he would be much more closely watched, than in the relative freedom and anonymity that was New York City - there were several small safe houses scattered throughout the latter city, and one large base of operations hidden in the heart of the oldest part of the city, buried underground and carefully hidden from everyone else, while also very carefully maintained by the Brotherhood as well... And Connor had occasionally healed others surreptitiously using his newfound healing talent - a quick pat on the back, while speaking encouragingly, or humming softly as he helped someone else drift off to sleep. Whereas the entire city of Masayf was run and controlled by the brotherhood - with any non-Brotherhood spouses or children living in the small town, aware of what was going on, and the importance of vigilance and silence.

All of that was why Connor had decided to go ahead and take the first college class that the Silver Wolf was teaching in control and manipulation of... What was commonly called "super hero" ability or abilities that people had realized they possessed and wished to learn how to control... The fact that the Silver Wolf was someone whom the young man also looked up to was... Perhaps a small part of it as well, but he certainly wasn't going to let his fascination with the Silver Wolf to distract him from learning - as he suspected that the other had likely dealt with that in the past - and one of the prerequisites for the class was to sign a form that promised that the person who was signing up for said class was doing so in order to learn how to master abilities that they possessed, and that they weren't trying to attend the class in the hopes of being able to talk to a semi-retired and very well known and well liked (Order) Hero... and that if it is discovered that the attendee was there not to learn their abilities - but to try to interview the hero, or try to recruit people in the class to organizations - including government organizations - as the university that Connor was going to was funded entirely privately, and the school administration was fiercely protective over all of their students. There was also the fact that when he had been much, much younger, Connor had actually met the Silver Wolf once, during what was one of the worst days of his life - and the older hero had been able to calm his much-younger self down when the paramedics - who had been trying to get him to stop moving and hiding from them long enough to treat his burns - had been unable to do so.

That was one of the reasons why the Brotherhood had allowed him to go to this university in the first place, rather than having him apprentice under Dr. White or one of the other Brotherhood physicians - as that way he would be able to get all of the training that becoming a physician required legally... And if Connor decided to specialize in a certain area of study - and a couple of his mentors had hinted to him that they were hoping he might decide to become either a trauma doctor, or a surgeon of some kind - he would continue to be allowed to do so, especially if he didn't have to change universities.

Not all of the student body - or the staff - had Abilities, though there were quite a few among both who did, due to the protective stance that this university had... It was one of the oldest universities in the US - and the university had always had a very protective stance towards all of their students - including and especially to those students who had Abilities as well. There were rumors that there were several people involved in the founding of the university had Abilities - and had initially intended the university to be a safe haven for those who had Abilities, and to only accept those who had Abilities to teach and nurture. Connor wasn't sure about the veracity of that particular rumor, but it wouldn't surprise him if that was true... As more than a few members of the Brotherhood (both those without Abilities, and those with them) had passed through these walls, and there was a professor who was connected to the Brotherhood who was currently on staff. Who that was, Connor had no idea - and he doubt he would be told. The brotherhood only gave pertinent information when needed, and the young man knew that he might act and react differently to that particular professor... And that could potentially put their cover in danger.

Connor was waiting in the classroom that he'd been told to wait in, watching as classmates filtered in, absentmindedly rubbing the the back of his hand, briefly tempted to take off his fingerless leather gloves, as the back of his hand itched... But as several of his new classmates were sitting in desks to the direct right and left of him... The young man decided not too, as he'd rather not deal with the questions that he might have to deal with, if his un-gloved hands were spotted by a particularly observant and nosy classmate. Since his healing ability had manifested a little over a month ago, the lingering burn scars had faded, but they were still present, and answering intrusive questions from idly curious and bored classmates was always incredibly uncomfortable for him.

One of his classmates leaned towards him a little, a curious expression appearing on her face as she asked "Are you here for the first Abilities training class? Isn't the class supposed to start in a couple of minutes from now? I've been going to this university for years, and this is the first time that the professor hasn't already been in the classroom or space we're to be using, waiting for all of to arrive. I'm Prudence by the way - what's your name?"

"It's nice to meet you, Prudence. I'm Connor - I've been going to this university for a couple of years as well - but they've never had me sign something that looks an awful lot like a nondisclosure form before taking the class, either. They might be trying to gauge if we're here because we want to take the class... Or if we're just interested in meeting the person whose to be teaching us." The young man responded quietly. Considering the sort of class that they were taking, it wouldn't surprise him if they were going to be headed to a more open space - as the small classroom they were in was a bit to closed quarters for using Abilities for the most part - especially with the desks and chairs cluttering the room as well. But perhaps it was different for civilians.

"That's true... And I don't mean to be rude... But you look a little... Young to have been going to university for years. Not that it's a bad thing..." She responded, frowning a little as she shifted a little. "I suppose they probably would have problems with that, what with the rumors around campus being that the Silver Wolf teaches this and other Abilities training classes here. On the other hand, it would make sense to have a hero who liked to teach, teach people how to use their abilities if they were a little unsure as to how to approach the Order of Heroes directly for training..."

Connor shrugged a little - at nineteen he knew that it was a bit unusual for him to have already  have all of the undergraduate courses that he needed in order to be in the medical school program, but the young man had always been very driven... And it wasn't as if he had much else to devote to in his life, beyond the missions he was sent on, and the endless training that they put all of them through, in the Brotherhood. "I graduated high school at fourteen, and qualified for scholarships at a community college in my home town." Which was the  not-quite lie that he'd been telling those who asked since he'd started here "I'm about half way through the non-clinical portion of the program I've been going through. After that I have several years of clinical rounds to go through, but I have ideas of where I want to go... Whether or not I'll get it is difficult to say. Are you in a particular program, or are you going to learn things?"

Prudence smiled a little, responding with a cheerful "I'm going back to finish the rest of my agricultural degree. I stopped years ago, after I had gotten pregnant with my first child, as I wanted to be able to help Warren raise our child... Which was a good thing, when it turned out that I had twins. What sort  of program are you in that requires years of clinicals?"

Connor wasn't entirely sure how to respond to everything she said, so he decided to answer her question first, in order to let himself form a better response to the previous thing she said. Most civilians always seemed so chatty in non-life threatening situations, it was slightly distressing at times. "I'm working my way to becoming a doctor. If It's not too much to ask... Do you have pictures of  your children? From the way you smile, I can tell that you love them very much."

Prudence blinked at him in surprise, before smiling brightly at him, pulling out her phone, flicking through it, and showing Connor a picture of the small family "You're very sweet, Connor. I'm sure you will make a fine doctor, one day. And here is my family and I."

Connor looked at the picture, recognizing the house, tensing a little as he read her face closely, trying to decide something, before responding carefully, using a code phrase, to see if he'd get the correct response from her. There were some civilians in Davenport, but not many - and he recognized her twin children as tech-focused heroic support. "Do you still live in that house? I... I think I recognize it. Then again, you did seem kind of familiar. I wasn't expecting to run into anyone else who lives in Davenport... It's such a small town, but the shadows in the forest can be quite beautiful - especially in the fall."

She blinked a little in surprise, before ruffling his hair, cheerfully greeting him with "Oh! I realize why you seemed so familiar. You're Achilles' boy, Ratonhnhaké:ton. The name Connor threw me off a little, though I do understand why you'd be going by your middle name... Though you might wish to insist that people at least try to properly say your true name - and part of the reason why I'm going back to finish my agricultural degree is to be able to help care for the forest around Davenport. It really is a beautiful place to live. It doesn't surprise me that you want to become a doctor - heavens only knows you chased after my twins often enough, pulling them out of one trouble or another."

Connor found himself scowling (he wasn't pouting, as pouting was childish) a little at her as she ruffled his hair - she was going to loosen the braids he had them in if she wasn't careful, and it was a pain to try to fix them while in class. "I got tired of people slaughtering my name... Half of the time on purpose, so I use Connor more than Ratonhnhaké:ton in the big city."

Prudence hummed in understanding, but looked like she was about to say something else, when the dean of admissions walked into the classroom, their very presence causing the whole room - which had been full of quiet conversations that Connor was trying not to listen in on, as above-normal hearing was a pain as often as it came in handy in the young man's experience, fell completely and utterly silent.

The dean cleared her throat a little before saying "Bring up your completed forms and go through the opposite door. If you have yet to finish completing your form, or if you lost your form before you could complete it and hand it in, you will be staying with me, in this classroom, as I have additional forms and will be here to answer any and every question you have about them. Will the front row come up and hand in their completed forms, please?"

 


	3. Chapter 3

Connor got up as he'd been directed to, walking over to the academic dean and setting his completed form on the table next to her, before asking quietly "Do you want me to wait until you have verified that I have signed the form completely, ma'am?" He was the third person to come up - and as the first two people had sheepishly admitted to losing their paperwork, was the first to have everything in order - Prudence was behind him, her own form in hand from what he had seen.

"I will check it over, before you go through that door." the academic dean responded "In addition, you must turn off any electronic devices that you have on your person - that means a cell phone, laptop or tablet, and any recording devices you might have brought to record lectures with. I will give you a bag to put any and all electronic devices you possess in, which you will need to put in the labeled box, if you have completed the form completely and correctly."

Connor nodded in understanding, waiting patiently as she looked through the ten page form. "Alright." The young Brotherhood hero understood the value of secrecy and silence. He pulled his phone out of one of his jacket pockets, turning it off, before pulling out his laptop and double checking to make sure that he had turned it off, after having finished the class before this one. He set both devices on the table, his phone on top of  his laptop.

One of his potential classmates called out loudly from near the back of the line "Why is all of this even necessary! I want to learn how to control the Ability I just figured out I had. There's no reason to be such a hardass about it!"

Connor tensed a little, biting the inside of one of his cheeks, in order to prevent himself from snapping at the noisy person - as they had set off several other potential classmates to start moaning and griping at about how unfair all of this was, and how stupid all of these rules for this specific class were. "Like, why is it even, such a big deal? It's not like it's life and death that we don't have our phones! I bet the teacher of the class is just one of those old fashioned instructors who doesn't like anything more modern than one of those noisy projector things! I use my phone all the time to take notes and stuff..." Another potential classmate whined, folding their arms over their chest and pouting unhappily, looking to Connor, as if they were a giant brat.

The young man twitched a little, as more and more people started to complain - or rather three to five people continued to complain over and over again, with more volume - it was deafening to his sensitive ears, and he found himself whirling around to face these idiots, eyes flashing with irritation as he growled out "It's for our safety, you idiots! Do you have any idea about the dozens of criminal organizations alone, who would gleefully torment and blackmail anyone with Abilities that they considered even tangentially useful to them?" Or that's what so foolishly would have fallen from his lips, had his heightened emotions not caused Connor to switch forms, into that of a  very large eagle of some kind.

Instead of words, a long, angry screech had left his lips, as he awkwardly flapped to keep himself from crashing to the floor. He managed to awkwardly land on top of the desk, narrowly avoiding clawing both his things. Connor was struggling to figure out how to close his wings - as he tried to force himself to calm down enough to switch back into his human form. It didn't help that everyone else in the room was staring at him - although the idiots had blissfully, finally, stopped complaining. Prudence was the first to unfreeze, stepping closer to him, a small, amused smile appearing on her face as she carefully extended one of her hands out, fingers open a little and relaxed.

A melodious, masculine voice that Connor had only heard in person once, when he was much, much younger, spoke in a measured, calm voice "The reason why you are each required to fill out that form before taking this particular class of mine, is for safety. For your safety, for the safety of your classmates, as well as mine. I would caution against trying to touch him at the moment, unless the two of you have known one another for years, as I can tell an involuntary shift when I see one, and the animal instincts can be incredibly difficult to control at first." The speaker was the Silver Wolf, wearing a navy blue and gold uniform, with a matching blue mask with a gold swirling pattern. He made his way over to where all of them were grouped together in something that had once been a line - but everyone had started to crowd around the table, to get a look at Connor's eagle form - which was not helping his nerves or irritation any.

"I... Oh... But what danger could we possibly be in? It's not like there are any super villains masquerading around the campus as teachers, or something like that. Or at least, I really hope that the University's background checks for their professors is better than that." One of the complainers huffed, their arms still crossed, though they did seem to be feeling embarrassed and uncertain, instead of just flippant and irritated.

"There are no known super villains on staff, and each member of the staff - from professors, to administration to security and cleaning staff, are regularly checked to ensure that they haven't been compromised in any way, to ensure the safety and security of the student body, and the campus. But occasionally there have been a few people sent from seedy organizations to try to infiltrate this and other classes like this, on this campus and on others, in an attempt to recruit those with abilities into their organizations - whether that be through the promise of adventure... OR more often, through coercion and blackmail. That has happened twice at this university - with the second time being before the Silver Wolf started teaching here." The academic dean explained "We have found that these forms are very at weeding most of those people out - and this form also deters particularly determined proficient if unscrupulous reporters from harassing students who may become heroes later in their lives."

This caused the formerly very loudly complaining students to fall utterly silent... Another reason why they might have fallen silent, was that Connor had just felt something - or rather, someone - brush lightly against his mind, and a wave of calm washed over him, that he was distinctly aware was not his own. He noticed how his fellow students reacted to the light mental touch, fairly certain that the Silver Wolf had reached out to all of them, to help ease tensions in the room a little bit. He was also slightly disappointed in himself, that his mental defenses were low enough that he had almost not realized that the calm had come from an external source, but he only thought that, after he raised his mental defenses, remembering how to properly construct them, and hold them without much conscious effort.

The Silver Wolf glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow fractionally before looking back at the rest of the class. "Those of you who have fully and completely filled out the form will follow me through that door, if you would please - and I know which of you already have. When I call your name, go through the door as you are able. Smith, Jameson, Chan, Willow, Ceres, Karimi, Pillai, Basnet, Turov, and Hill - all of you have filled out your forms correctly and may go through the door. The rest of you will be staying with the Dean to fill out the forms if you are truly serious about taking this class. Mr. Hill, if you are having difficulty moving, given that you unwillingly shifted into an animal shape, and you are unable to figure out how to change back, I would be content to carry you into the room."

"But how do you know that only a quarter of us have filled out the paperwork correctly or completely?!" One of the other students complained, as he crossed his arms over his chest, as he glared defiantly at the Silver Wolf, a folder in hand. "The dean had only started to go through eagle-ass over there's papers."

"Do you have your paperwork for this class with you, Dawson?" The Silver Wolf responded mildly.

"... I do, right here. And how the hell do you know my name? Even if you have the class roster, there's no way you've been able to memorize who we all are, even before you've met us!" Dawson spluttered, waving the folder in the air, obviously agitated.

The Silver Wolf hummed a little, as he stepped closer to the younger man, arching an eyebrow at him, seemingly amused by this "I have been listening to all of you speak with one another, and I can easily tell whose voice belongs to who, even in a classroom full of strangers. Now, if your paperwork is complete, please hand it to me, and I will check through it, as is procedure. If you are attempting to lie to the Dean and myself, I would suggest that you sit down in one of the desks, so that you will be able to finish the paperwork - or reconsider taking this class... As trying to bluff me will not work - even if you are trying to use minor illusion abilities to get me to believe that the paperwork is completed."

Dawson went very pale, staggering back a couple of feet, before collapsing into a nearby chair, visibly trembling. "I... There... There's no way you... You'd know that I was trying t-to do that unless... U-Un... U-Unless..."

"I am a known telepath, and I am able to read surface thoughts passively - particularly when one is mentally broadcasting something that they are focusing so entirely on." The Silver Wolf responded, a slight smirk appearing on his face as he glanced at the rest of the class "If any of you have problems being taught by a telepath, than I would urge you to reconsider any desires you have to be taught by me. There are others who teach control of one's abilities, and the Dean can put you into contact with them, if you so wish."

A heavy silence rang loudly and as it began to stretch, with great effort, Connor figured out how to get his wings working, the sound of the air rushing through his feathers as he clumsily flew the five feet or so to where the Silver Wolf was standing, while also trying to avoid potential classmates, mostly avoiding everyone - though the tips of his wings did accidentally brush against a couple of people, as he attempted to land on one of the Silver Wolf's shoulders.

Instead of that, the Silver Wolf silently held out an arm, which was much easier a target for Connor to clumsily land on, as the young man managed to close his wings, leaning a little into the other's broad chest, and allowing his desire to be taught by the other, and his lack of anxiety or suspicion over the other being a Telepath to be clearly mentally broadcast.

The Silver Wolf hummed quietly at that, a small smile appearing on his face at his acceptance "I know that at least one of you is interested, at least. I will be waiting to start the first lesson for the next hour. Those who decide to take my class are welcome to join."

"I am interested in taking your class." Prudence spoke up, handing her paperwork over, rolling her eyes in irritation at the genuine anxiety that several of her potential classmates were suddenly showing "I never really understood why so many people have such reservations with telepaths, anyways. Plenty of Heroes have super speed or super strength, which can be just as dangerous, and no one seems to bat an eye at that. I'll hold Connor, if the both of you don't mind, and  you'd like to go through my paperwork, professor."

Connor sent to The Silver Wolf his contentment with this idea, if the semi-retired Hero was fine with it, causing the other to smile a little. "Very well - I am curious as to how the two of you know one another?"

"Ah, I've known Connor since he was about four years old." Prudence answered fondly, a warm smile appearing on her face as Connor carefully hopped from one of the Silver Wolf's arms, to one of Prudence's, doing his level best to keep his claws from piercing clothing or skin.

Connor could hear some distinctly irritated grumblings from those whose names hadn't been called - but it seemed as if most of them were genuinely considering the reasons why the university was being very insistent in this manner. Prudence walked into the other room - which was spacious and reinforced with a special kind of concrete that Connor recognized as being resistant to most kinds of destructive abilities. So far, of the group of students who had been called, they were the only two who had entered the room. As Connor waited for the hour to pass, his mind began to wander. The young Brotherhood hero had entirely understood the reasons why the university was acting like this, for this sort of class but, he guessed that civilians who hadn't ever had to deal with working as a hero - be it the way that the Order worked - which was generally out in front of cameras, working hard on saving people from natural disasters in bright, colorful uniforms, or battling against the evil minions or a villain as part or most of the world watched, the fate of humanity supposedly in the balance... Or in a more subtle manner, as the Brotherhood did things, to protect the civilians.

On the other hand, the organization that Connor had been apart of since he was very small, The brotherhood moved through the shadows, quietly taking out the truly dangerous villains, if they wouldn't be reformed, or ensuring that corrupted politicians whose decisions were made based on who was paying them to vote one way or another was... Dealt with - usually by arranging for evidence of their corruption to be found, or a member of the brotherhood who had infiltrated said corrupted politician's staff quietly go to an earnest investigative reporter, or to a member of the police... Either of whom would also be a member of the brotherhood, so the confidentiality of said whistle blower would not be revealed - for their own safety is what the police person or the journalist would say, when pressed to reveal the identity of the whistleblower. The Brotherhood also helped with national disasters - but those who helped aid those in desperate need did not do so while wearing a Heroic uniform - simply presenting themselves to be civilians just wanting to help - or members of aid organizations not affiliated with the Order.

When a Villain caught national or international attention the Brotherhood tended to shy away from them, though they would send people in to get the layout, strengths and weaknesses of the villain and any allies or minions they had, and whether or not said minions were willing to do so - or were forced into helping them. If it was the latter for some of the minions - as it generally was, if the villain was using actual people, instead of constructs, the Brotherhood would ensure the safety and silence of whatever it was those minions were being blackmailed against, before having their liaisons give the Order all of the information that they had gathered about this particularly showy villain, so that they would be able to handle them. Once a villain caught a certain amount of media attention, it was... Unwise for the Brotherhood to try to send anyone after them, as that hero or small team of heroes would inevitably end up being seen by civilian cameras. There were ways to contain the damage, but it was best just to let the flashy Order heroes to deal with those sorts of villains, while the Brotherhood worked on discouraging and stopping villains who tried to stay in the shadows - unaware of the heroic organization who had been hunting and stopping such villains for centuries.

Connor shook himself mentally, coming back to himself and feeling slightly foolish that he had allowed his mind to wander so very far afield - especially with a powerful Telepath nearby... But then again, his mental barriers were still holding strong and it wasn't likely that the Silver Wolf would be focused on him - as the other was dealing with potential students. Connor noted that several other people had come in - although what their names were, the young man could only guess. With an effort of will, Connor focused on his human form, trying to take that shape again, doing his best to keep calm, rather than allow his frustration to build - as that wouldn't help him in the least. After what felt like an eternity, but was likely closer to a couple of minutes at most, Connor returned to human form...

Well, mostly. He sighed unhappily as he realized that the backs of his hands were still feathered, and the tips of his fingers (and from what he could feel, his toes too) were several inch long claws. He had feathers up both arms as well, and the young man was worried that his gloves might not come back. Connor quickly glanced down at himself - as he heard several very dramatic and startled gasps, relieved to know that he was wearing clothes - as the first time that he had changed back, he had changed back and had been completely naked... And that had been horrifically embarrassing, and his only saving grace was the fact that he had been alone. If he'd transformed like that in front of his teammates neither Ezio nor Malik would have ever let him live that down. The young man complained quietly to himself, after Prudence let him go, stepping away with a distinctly amused expression on his face "Ugh, why is this so hard?"

"How long have you been able to turn into an Eagle?" Prudence asked curiously, still smiling a little at him "I'm not surprised that you have a form you can fly in, given that you've been trying to fly in various ways since you were small."

"I... That was... I just liked climbing things, and high places felt safe to me..." Connor responded defensively, fidgeting with his hands a little, doing his best not to slice his hands open with his razor sharp claws. He would heal very quickly from such an injury, but the young man would rather not accidentally make himself bleed if he could at all help it. "And I've... I started doing this about three months ago. I was stressing out a lot over how well I had done with the final exams - I hadn't been able to study as much as I had wanted to, and was really worried that my grades weren't going to be good enough to qualify for the next stage of the medical program here. The stress and anxiety forced me into Eagle form. I freaked out pretty badly and my roommate was just as freaked out too which didn't help at all."

Prudence chuckled softly, shaking her head a little "I see. I am guessing that you did well on your exams? You're very bright Connor, and shouldn't let such things get to you, as it'll hold you back more than anything."

Connor fidgeted with his hands again, nodding sheepishly "I know I was being ridiculous... But I... I just want to do the absolute best that I am able to do so, and... I was probably just over-thinking things. I did fairly well, actually."

One of their classmates snorted, walking over. They seemed strangely familiar, although Connor couldn't quite place why "Fairly well, you say. Your the top student in our class, and you have been since you first showed up here." This person was scowling rather darkly at him "Why and how a snot-nosed brat like you has been excelling so well in one of the toughest medical programs in the world, I don't know. But it's good to hear that you do freak out like the rest of us, at least privately."

Connor flinched a little in shock and recognition "Just because I'm... Younger than most of the other students going through the program, doesn't mean I don't have the right to go through it if I have all of the prerequisites and the determination to do so. I study hard and want to do the best that I can, Jameson."

Jameson - who's first name Connor wasn't sure if he had learned - looked like he was about to start yelling (his favorite thing to do, when under stress or irritated at something or someone, from what Connor had observed. That and blaming other people for his lack of organizational skills) when several more people came in through the door - including the Silver Wolf. The professor glanced between the two of them, asking in a calm tone of voice "Is something wrong?"

"Not really. I'm just really tired of dealing with this Affirmative Action Toddler, and I really fucking hate that I have to deal with him in yet another class." Jameson hissed.

The expression on the silver wolf's face - beyond what the mask hid, showed a stern and disapproving frown "There is no cause for such language - and simply because you are frustrated with yourself, doesn't mean that you are entitled to lash out at other people. If you say something like that again, I will make you leave for the rest of the class - and if you make a habit of saying such things, I will have you removed from this class entirely. Is that understood? I don't care that your family is wealthy, or has a great deal of influence in this city. In my classes, everyone will be treated with the decency that all should be allowed - whether or not you are under the very false belief that you are better than they are, simply because you have more money than they do."

Jameson's face went an ugly shade of red, and the other looked like he was clenching his jaw hard enough to crack it - probably to stop himself from saying something rude or disgusting enough to get thrown out of the class. After an awkwardly long pause, he bit out a terse "Understood, sir. I just... Don't pair me up with the golden child over there if we have projects or something like that. It's just... He looks like he should be in high school and it's infuriating that he's doing so well."

"You shouldn't try to measure yourself against the success of others. And I hardly see why my age - whatever it might be - has any bearing on anything whatsoever to do with you." Connor responded back, doing his best to keep the irritation out of his voice. There were others who made comments about how young he looked - but Jameson in particular seemed to enjoy harassing him. The young man wasn't happy that the other was here either, but saying that - as much as he wanted to - would likely only worsen the situation.

"... You... You're really fucking oblivious, aren't you?  You have no idea that ... How old are you, anyways?" Jameson growled - though it seemed to be a slightly different sort of a growl than before.

"... That's none of your business, but I turn twenty in a little over six months from now." Connor answered back.

Jameson stared at him in utter surprise, looking as if he was about to speak. Before he could, one of their other classmates spoke up "As fascinating as this little interplay is, can we please start the class that we've all signed up and paid for, if the hour we're supposed to wait is up, professor?"

"There is an additional ten minutes, although I would like the discussions about this to cease - as though Jameson is fairly set on continuing this line of discussion... Hill, would you like this conversation to stop?" The Silver Wolf answered, glancing directly at him, grey-blue eyes kind.

"I... I would like to end that conversation, yes." Connor answered honestly, suddenly feeling a little bit shy as his childhood idol was speaking to him directly like this.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Several weeks passed, and Connor could confidently say that the class that he was enjoying most this semester, was Professor Wolf's class... And not just because the amount of studying outside of class he needed to do was the least in this one. The young man was finding it easier to control his shape-shifting ability, and so far he hadn't involuntarily switched since the first day of classes. He was headed to a grocery store - as it was cheaper for him to buy food there, than to use one of the meal packages that the university offered. The Brotherhood also offered him a modest stipend for living expenses like food and gas or tickets for the bus or train, and the young man preferred to keep the expenses down as much as he could, as he really didn't want to deal with Chevalier nagging at him for how expensive it was for him to become a doctor. He was the only Mentor in New York who disapproved of him becoming a doctor - complaining loudly that it was a better use of his talents if he was a front line fighter, or if he was part of the backup for recon missions, rather than having him focused on learning medicine.

Connor was also quite certain that if Chevalier learned that he had an ability to heal others, that the pompous  bastard would be the first to lobby to make him go to Masayf or another fortified town, so that he was well protected... And utterly unable to go on missions with his teammates, for when all of them were needed to run a difficult or tricky mission somewhere. He never quite understood why some people plugged headphones into an I-pod or something similar, blasting music into their ears as they walked around town - it just sounded like such a dangerous thing - to be so out of touch with one's surroundings like that. The Brotherhood was working to make sure that everyone was safe enough to be able to do so... But the world wasn't that safe yet.

He was almost to the grocery store, when he heard several people screaming - high, terrified sounds that caused the young man to start sprinting towards the source of the sound. He hid in an alley as he watched dozens of flying metal things crawl out of a sewer drain and latch onto the nearest person they could find, dragging them somewhere.

The young man quickly took off his backpack, ducking behind a dumpster as he changed into his Brotherhood uniform - including the half-mask that helped hide his identity when he absolutely had to interact with civilians - and to obscure his face from any security cameras in the area. He also made sure to grab one of the independent hacking rig that Ezio's boyfriend Leo had made - hopefully it would be able to disable some of the robot-things that were flying around attacking and dragging at hapless and screaming civilians. The young man pulled out his phone again, intending on calling the main bureau, to report the evolving robot attack, and to be cleared to fight the robots, at least until an Order-allied hero showed up to finish cleaning things up... 

But his phone was completely dead - which was very strange, as the young man knew for a fact that his phone had been fine minutes ago, with a full charge… Which meant that the robots were likely messing with any communications devices in the area - or that something else was, while the robots caused panic and mayhem. Technically he wasn’t supposed to jump into a situation like this without permission… But if he didn’t mention that he helped deal with the robots - or was able to explain what happened to one of the mentors who wasn’t Chevalier (as the dai of NYC was ridiculous on certain rules), he  wouldn’t be punished for jumping in to help civilians. With this in mind, Connor rolled his shoulders and stretched quickly before rushing out, stopping dead for several moments as he took in the sight of a dozen of the small, insect-like robots attach to one another, merging together to form a larger robot.

Connor shook himself out of his surprise as he sprinted towards the robot, jumping out of the way as it swung a fist at him, rolling out of the way, wincing as the large robot smashed the roof of a parked car, getting under its guard and pressing the hacking rig to the robot, turning it on, before dodging the clumsy kick. He was out of its sight line - so the large robot started to lumber towards another car - the tires slashed so that the occupants couldn't try to drive away.

"Hey you ugly Voltron knock off, I'm still behind you!" Connor shouted as he stabbed into the robot, between two of the smaller conglomerates, his second sight aiding him in stabbing into weak points of the larger construction, hissing a little as the construct was able to grab him and tried to yank him off.

Connor groaned a little in pain, barely managing to free one of his arms, extending his hidden blade and slashing the restraining arm at the wrist, wincing a little as though he had managed to sever it, the robot hand was still trying to crush his rib cage. The robot beeped and whirred angrily, the sparking wrist flailing a little. Connor, using his second sight, stabbed into the power cell of the severed robot hand that was still trying to crush him, taking in a deep breath as it went lip. That arm went numb from the zing of the electricity, which was irritating, but Connor still had one working arm. He kicked the robot hard in the back of the knees, hauling it away from the trapped civilians, trying to use his body weight to make it fall on the clear bit of sidewalk as he continued to stab and slice the robot made of the smaller, insect-like robot, causing it to spark and screech in a simulated sound of pain or irritation. Connor allowed himself to drop off of the large robot, rather than allow himself to be grabbed again.

Connor rolled to dodge a blow from behind him, startling a little, as he realized that several of the other small, insect-like robots had attached themselves to a bystander, and was injecting something into them. The civilian's eyes were glassy, and they were yelling inarticulately at him, swinging wildly at him with metal covered fists - and there were several more large constructs and controlled civilians converging in on him all at once. The young man lunged for the closest robot-covered and controlled civilian, smashing the small bots off of them and concentrating, sending a pulse of healing energy into them, smiling a little when the civilian went from trying to murder him, to horrified. "I... I'm sorry! I wasn't... I-I didn't mean to!" The civilian stuttered, their eyes wide.

"It wasn't your fault - the robots were controlling you. You need to get out of here as fast as possible. There are a lot of these things out here right now. Try to get inside somewhere, as they don't seem to be getting into anywhere." Connor responded, doing his best to sound calm and confident, dodging another drugged and almost cyborg-looking civilian as he spoke, smashing the robots off of them while doing his best not to hurt them. The freed civilian nodded gratefully, and ran off as fast as they could move.

He freed a half-dozen more people, finding that the easiest way to get them free was to slam them into the ground, using his healing ability so that they weren't under the effects of whatever they were being injected with as he slashed the connection to the robots' batteries. He was panting a little - as healing the civvies from whatever was causing them to go into such a rage was really taking it out of him, when he realized that more of the insect-like robots had formed larger robots, and they werestarting to converge on him - although the large robot that he had put the hacking rig on was going after the nearest of the non-affected robots, which meant that the rig had taken control of it. Still, this was starting to go from bad to dangerous, and Connor grabbed his phone, intending to call one of his teammates for help, but it had cracked - probably when the robot tried to crush him, or if he had landed on his phone when dodging a punch or a kick at one point in the fight. The young man scanned the area, wanting to see if there were any trapped civilians - either being turned into a pseudo-cyborg, or trapped in their cars, as trying to get out of said car meant being swarmed by the small, insect-like robots and forced to fight... Or break into the stores that lined the sidewalks, Connor noted - as there were five or six controlled-civilians unwillingly smashing into the hastily barricaded doors and windows.

The young man sprinted towards the nearest pair of hijacked civilians, smashing the two of them into one another to break the robots cocooning most of their heads, slicing through the tech enough to get the robots to stop forcing the civilians to move forwards and pulsed enough healing energy into them to clear their minds of whatever it was that was causing them to yell in coherently and rush forwards. They started running as soon as Connor let them go, and he turned, sighing a little as two of the large, conglomerated robots moved towards him - its movements much more coordinated than the first bots. That... Probably didn't mean anything good for him - especially as the robot that had been hijacked had just been torn apart by the other three larger robots.

The young man rolled his shoulders and ran up to the closest one of the larger bots, ducking and dodging its' hands, rolling to avoid a kick, slicing into the bot where his second sight guided him to do so - in order to slow it down, minding the others that were trying to hem him in - he was getting surrounded - but the remaining civilians were escaping, which was his main priority. He just needed to stall long enough for one of the Order heroes to show up - or maybe a group of them, in order to speed up dealing with these things. Connor had managed to down one of the larger robots - and even though it tried to disassemble into its' smaller parts to continue fighting, the robot he'd just down crackled and popped alarmingly, but was still only able to twitch, out of the fight.

Connor allowed himself a small, satisfied smirk, before he allowed himself to fall backwards and roll, dodging another blow, as he tried to shake off some of the exhaustion he was feeling. Whatever those civilians had been injected with, had taken more energy out of him than the young hero had expecting it to. His momentary inattention was brutally punished, as he was slammed into the ground, the force of the blow prompting a pained moan to leave Connor's lips, as he was winded. A metal fist had curled tightly around him from behind, and though he twisted and struggled, Connor could do little more than flail with his legs, as his arms had been pinned tightly to his sides. He couldn't even twists his wrists enough to try to nick the large robot's hand, to try to get it to loosen his grip. Part of Connor wondered what would happen if he changed forms - would he be able to get free of the large robot, or would changing forms snap his eagle form's much more fragile hollow bones, in the painfully tight grasp? The young man could only guess, and Connor did not want to take such a risk - although trying to breathe, was getting more than a little difficult.

A low, warning growl reverberated through the street - though the large, lumbering robot that had a crushing grip on him continued to slowly stomp its way down the street. Connor searched for the source of the sound, unable to locate it. The young Brotherhood hero continued to kick and struggle, determined not to get captured or killed without putting up as much of a fight as possible, just barely able to stop himself from letting out a pained sound as the robot's grip tightened. The young man's vision swam a little, and fear rippled through him, though Connor tried to push it aside, as he took in as deep a breath as he could manage, stilling to conserve air. His every breath was shallow, as the robot's fist was so tightly clenched around him that he could barely get any air at all - and he did his best not to panic, as that would make things worse - even as the world started to darken around him. His ribs ached, and Connor hoped that they were just bruised - rather than the robot having managed to crack a couple of them, as that would slow him down for a whole week.

Just before his world went completely dark, Connor heard a loud crunching sound, and found himself flying through the air. Before the young man could decide if he wanted to try to switch forms, since he was airborne, he went crashing to the ground, his training the only reason why he had managed to land on his back, which further smashed the part of the large robot, which allowed the young man to fight his way free of the fist. He had also rolled to relieve some of the kinetic energy, but instead of popping up onto his feet, the young man had just sort of... Rolled into a car. Connor groaned a little, gulping in large breaths of air, wincing a little as his ribs ached in protest. His mind was a lot clearer, and he noted absently that a large black wolf - or was it a bear? It was roughly the size of a large grizzly bear, with pitch black fur - except for a streak of silver-white fur that stretched from the tip of the large animal's tail - possibly to the tip of his nose, although Connor couldn't exactly tell - the wolf was moving so swiftly in taking down the large robots, that he couldn't be certain.

The young man forced himself to sit, and then stand up, despite the fact that large parts of his body were complaining loudly at not being a crumpled heap on the sidewalk, determined to continue fighting. He wasn't that badly injured from what he could tell (although that might be the adrenaline talking) and Connor charged another trio of pseudo-cyborgs, as they came out of nowhere to attack the very large wolf - who was likely The Silver Wolf (Connor's professor and... Someone whom he respected a great deal) if the other's markings were an indication of who they were, though Connor wasn't going to assume. The young man winced a little, after he threw one of them into the ground with much more force than he had intended to, given the pained wheeze that the  civilian had made - he was losing a bit of control over his strength, which was a Bad Thing - but Connor just couldn't get himself to care anymore, as he ripped the smaller robots off of the civilians with his bare hands - given how much pain he was in, this was the safer option.

The civilians were still under the effects of whatever they had been injected by - which was why they were still trying to punch and kick - and even bite him - despite being freed from the smashed robot parts.

Three quick pulses of healing energy later, and the three of them were apologetically scrambling away from the scene of the fight. Connor glanced around, searching for any more pseudo-cyborgs, smaller robots, or the large conglomerates, only mildly surprised to find that the Silver Wolf - who had transformed back into his human form - had finished ripping the large robots apart - including the three that had been much further down the road. There were about a dozen pseudo-cyborgs, but all of them were patiently standing in front of the powerful Telepath, as he carefully removed the small robots from them. Connor did his best not to stagger miserably towards the group of them, glad that his mask came with a voice modulator as he rasped out a warning "They are under the effects of... Something. The robots attached to their faces injected something that drives them to a... Something like a beserker's rage."

"Do you have any more of the antidote?" The Silver Wolf asked curiously, glancing briefly over at him, before continuing to focus on removing the smaller robots from them.

"Wasn't... Using an antidote. I've... No idea who or why did this. I was using... An ability to remove the..." Wow, talking was starting to get very difficult, and Connor was struggling against a perilous wave of exhaustion that threatened to render him unconscious, and therefore captured by someone. Also his ribs were complaining that he was using up so much precious air, now that he was out of immediate physical danger "Effects of whatever they were injected with. At least enough so that they stopped attacking me and realized what they had been doing, at least."

The Silver Wolf nodded, though he frowned a little, moving a couple of steps closer as he asked "Are you injured?  You don't appear or sound to be doing very well to me. I can take you somewhere discreet, where they can check your injuries, and will not ask for your name or any form of identification."

Was the other talking about taking him to an Order bureau to be treated? That sounded rather dangerous - particularly as though he did trust the other as a fine instructor... Connor was more than a little wary about going to such a place, as he had been warned about the trickiness of the Order, and that depending on them for help always came with string and favors attached, to be cashed in for later use. "I... I'll be alright. There's a place I know that I can get patched up at - and I'm mostly just tired, rather than injured."

The frown on the Silver Wolf's face deepened a little, and the older hero reached out, lightly touching him on one of his shoulders, asking (and sounding genuinely concerned as he spoke "Are you sure? You look about to fall over in a strong breeze."

Connor was trying to figure out how to respond - the other's bright blue eyes distracting him somewhat, and the other's melodious voice - filled with what sounded like genuine concern and a desire to help was... Deeply flustering to the young man, and part of him was very much tempted to give into the older Hero's offer of hope, when they both heard sirens - police and medical teams - and there was the distinctive sound of a helicopter - more than one, and not all of them were police or fire helicopter. Connor shook his head, darting towards the alley that he had hid his backpack in, answering with a quiet "I'll be fine - I don't envy you dealing with the PR in this, Silver Wolf. You did take down more enemies than I did - and I would rather you not mention me to anyone."

"Very well - but may I have your handle? You fight well." The Silver Wolf responded quickly.

Connor tried not to preen under the praise given to him by his childhood idol as he rushed into the shadows "I am The Aquila." The young man didn't glance back as he managed to get out of sight and into civilian clothes before the emergency services and the news crews converged on the scene.


	5. Chapter 5

Connor's cell phone rang loudly, waking him up at about four in the morning. A silent groan left his lips as he swiftly answering it - as though the caller ID said that the number was unlisted, he suspected that this was a call from one of the brotherhood. He greeted quietly, so as to not wake his dorm mates "Good morning."

"Aquila, as you are no doubt aware of the recent robot attack in an area of New York close to where you are currently stationed. It would be easiest if you were to retrieve as much of the debris from the fight as possible." Mentor Chevalier ordered "Several other young agents had been sent on previous days, but they were unable to get close enough. Perhaps you aren't as incompetent as they are in retrieval of such. I am ordering  you to go now. I know that you have time to do so, as you have no classes today - and as it's still only the first month of classes, I doubt that you have much homework or studying to do."

The young man tried not to groan, flop back down onto his bed and hang up. Chevalier was an asshole, and was perfectly aware that he was in a high intensity program - and though it was currently Sunday, he had quite a bit of homework that he had been hoping to get a jump start on. But even if he turned his phone off, Connor didn't trust that Chevalier wouldn't show up to the university three hours later, to howl at him for daring to disrespect and disobey him. "... Yes sir." It was easiest just to agree to whatever the bastard wanted, if it was within reason, rather than arguing with him over something. Besides, that was a fast way to get the money the Brotherhood was giving the University to pay for his schooling suspended, because Chevalier decided to throw a fit. He hated that Chevalier was one of the leading Mentors in New York - he was even more insufferable now, than when he'd just been an instructor.

"Good - bring what you have collected to the bureau. I want to be able to have the tech crew here start to try to figure out who is behind this. There was an attack with robots very similar to this, less than an hour ago in three different cities - the information hasn't come through civilian means, as the robots in those attacks emit a field that affects all civilian electronics in a large radius - which happened here, as well." Chevalier ordered.

"Understood. I'll bring what I can find." the young hero responded, doing his best not to wince as he moved incorrectly. Chevalier hung up on him and Connor started to get ready for the day. He was very unhappy with the fact that he still had to bind his ribs - he healed very quickly, but during the course of the fight, his ribs had gotten badly bruised - and from the fact that he couldn't take a deep breath without pain, the young man was also fairly sure that at least one of his ribs had cracked a little. Connor hadn't gone anywhere to get treatment - not even to the local Bureau as he had acted without orders in interceding with the fight. The young hero was fairly sure that had he called in and reported what was going on, he would have gotten the go ahead to help the civilians until an Order hero arrived to take all the credit in saving the civilians. But Connor had impulsively jumped in, and getting treatment on the sly would have likely been noticed. Besides, there was no real treatment that he could be given, beyond binding his ribs and maybe pain medication - but Connor had no desire to be on whatever pain killers they might give him, as he needed to focus on his studies.

The young man was grateful that this university wasn't strict on what people wore - so long as it wasn't offensive. Connor took to wearing hoodies, to hide his bandages. His energy was still low, even three days later from healing those civilians... Although part of that might be due to the fact that he hadn't been able to sleep as well as he normally did, because of his aching ribs. His medical classes - despite it still being the first week of classes - had already started to ramp up the homework and required reading - which Connor was doing his best to stay up on. He hadn't gotten the groceries that he had intended to get earlier, which was why the young man would claim to anyone who might try to stop him from going near the streets that the robots had appeared and started causing all sorts of problems. There had been an announcement over the intercoms in the university, urging anyone who had been on or near those streets to report to one of the hospitals, or to the university's on-sight clinic to be evaluated and possibly treated, as according to the official statement by the police, some of the robots had released a gas that affected people mentally.

Connor hadn't done that, either. The young man was torn between going and not - as he could explain away his injuries as being an innocent bystander and getting grabbed by one of the larger robots or something like that... But a couple of the civilians he had helped, had mentioned that there had been another hero who had been on the scene, before the Silver Wolf had arrived to fight the robots and the unwilling pseudo-cyborgs. Few people - at least in the media - seemed to believe them - citing that they might be confused, due to the drug running through their system - as heroes stayed to help clean things up, and to make sure that the threat was truly laid to rest. Or that's what the Order and the Brotherhood would have them believe. Connor slunk into an alley that connected to one of the streets that were still blocked off by the police, making sure that his hoodie cast enough shadows on his face to hide it - just in case there was anyone patrolling the area, or there were cameras around. Apparently some of the robots had exploded as they were dispatched - burying razor sharp shrapnel into the sidewalk, street and buildings - and clean up was going slowly.

If there were any leads as to why this had happened - or from which facility the robots had supposedly escaped from, it had yet to be reported. Despite some of the optimistic media chatter, Connor was also quite certain that the robots had been released deliberately, rather than having broken containment, after their AI had been corrupted somehow - or had been remotely hacked and controlled by someone outside of whatever laboratory that the robots had fled from. He was searching for any clues or pieces of robot that might hint towards who might have done this - as more than a couple of technically minded villains and super villains couldn't help  but place a unique mark, a signature that hinted towards someone being behind it. The young man was about to start using his second sight, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a golden hue around something that would help him figure out who was behind this. Or at least... Help the Brotherhood figure out who they would need to deal with, one way or another.

He was able to find a couple of small pieces of some of the smaller robots - mostly bits of metal, but close to the alley - but passed the yellow caution tape - was a glittering, golden hunk of metal that, when viewed in his normal sight - was a mostly intact insect-like robot. Connor checked for anyone or anything red - which would alert him to any police or investigators in the area. There were a couple, but their backs were turned away from him - and there were no cameras around, either. 

So Connor darted around the corner, ducked under the yellow tape, and grabbed the almost intact robot, wheezing silently in pain and crawling back into the relative safety of the alleyway as the world spin and shifted unpleasantly around him. The young man looked it over, carefully removing the implanted tracker - it looked like police issue, rather than Order-planted - and set it down before stuffing it inside of the cloth bag that he had slung over his shoulders, walking at a decent pace away from the area, acting casually, as acting guilty or anxious would increase the chances of the patrolling police to stop him. He caught a bus, getting off at a stop close to where the main New York Bureau was located, using his key to get into the apartment complex that was the cover, and going up to the landlord's office, and knocked on the door.

Chevalier opened the door, asking in a bored tone of voice "If you are looking for a room to rent, this building is full up."

"I've got a delivery for you." Connor responded, taking off the backpack and setting it down on the table in front of the other. He did his best to sound pleasant and professional, as he could hear a couple of the civilian tenants going through the foyer that this office was off of "Brought to you as soon as the place I work for opened, since you're such a special and valued customer."

"I hope that you don't mind that I check it now, in front of you, rather than simply taking you at your word that the package that I asked for is here. I've been trying to get this for three days, and so far, I haven't gotten what I wanted - it's always been broken beyond repair." Chevalier responded with a disdainful sniff, before he opened the small backpack. He blinked a little in shock, before glancing up at him and nodding. "Thank you - this is exactly what I wanted. I will call your boss and inform him I have finally gotten what I needed. Perhaps the company that you work for isn't completely useless in delivering necessary items."

"... Alright. After you give me my backpack back, I'll be headed off." Connor responded, casually leaning against the door frame, to block the view of anyone curiously peeking over in their direction - if any of them were.

Chevalier rolled his eyes, carefully taking out the small, inert robot and carefully setting it in the hidden pneumatic tube and sending it off - probably down to the lab. The French Assassin handed over the backpack "Very well, if you insist. Now, be off with you! If you think I would tip you, after all of the agony I've been through in order to get what I have,  you are wrong. Shoo! I am a very busy man."

"Yeah, yeah. Have a wonderful day, your highness." Connor answered back sarcastically, grabbing his backpack and heading out. He was briefly tempted to go to the secret elevator down to the clinic - as they might have something other than pain killers and a splint to deal with his ribs... But his injuries weren't that bad, and the young man was also aware that such services were used mainly for those who were in critical condition. With a silent sigh, Connor shook himself and headed back to his dorm.

His dorm mates weren't even awake yet, and he envied the bastards. Part of him knew that he should probably get some studying in - which was why, though Connor was grumbling to himself, he grabbed one of his textbooks, propping it against his knees as he lay back in bed - having arranged his pillows so that he would have to lie flat while he slept. After a moment's hesitation, he pulled out the worn, plush toy that he kept in wherever he slept. It was the last gift that his mother had ever given him - and though the stuffed Silver Wolf was frayed on the edges, and he had sown it back together in a couple of places, the college student wouldn't trade it for a new version of the toy if he was ever given the chance.

Connor yawned - doing his best to try to keep the yawn shallow and failing, which caused his ribs to twinge painfully. The young man rubbed his chest, over the bandages and wondered hazily if the increase in pain was a recent thing... But no, he was definitely feeling worse than he had been before - ever since he'd ducked around the police tape and ran to get that damned mostly-whole robot. He hadn't noticed it earlier, as he had been on the alert for any potential threats, and doing his best to keep away from any police presence - on the alert for that. Now that he was in a relatively safer location... And left with his own thoughts as he reviewed his notes, his ribs had decided to make it very clear to him that they did not like the excess movement  and twisting in the least.

The medical student shifted his position a little, and the pain eased. Connor continued to study quietly, noting absently after a while that he could hear his dorm mates walking and talking with one another - chattering about the gorgeous day it was - and discussing what they wanted to do. Connor glanced out of the window, and sighed a little as he noticed that the morning fog had lifted, and it was a gloriously sunny day. He was very tempted to go study outside - but he didn't want to try to carry more than one or two of the thick and heavy medical textbooks that he needed to use to study from - and he knew that if he went outside he was more likely to be distracted as well...

But it really was a beautiful fall day - and he was well aware that the winter was going to be miserable and cold and taking advantage of every sunny day before that happened was optimal. With a silent sigh, Connor decided that he would study outside after all. He got out of bed, grabbed another textbook, and very carefully made his way over to the quad, finding a sunlit picnic table to sit at, glad that he'd also grabbed his flash cards, so that he could make more. Time passed pleasantly for Connor, and it was only when his stomach started to grumble in earnest, did he remember that he hadn't had anything to eat  yet today.

He was normally pretty good about meals - but between the amount of pain he was in simply existing and Chevalier's ridiculously early phone call demand that he go rushing into the city... And the fact that he'd forgotten to grab something to eat at one of the grocery stores he'd passed by on his way to or from the brief mission, he would have to go to the cafeteria... Which was on the far side of campus from where he was. But he was incredibly hungry, and he knew that he should be eating a bit more than he normally did, in order to heal quickly. With those reasons in mind, Connor carefully got up, gathering his books and note cards, and carefully made his way across the large, grassy quad, smiling a little and enjoying taking the day in, despite the rough start, today had turned out pretty good, so far.

Connor should have noticed the group of college students playing tackle Frisbee on the far end of the quad - but the young man had been too distracted watching the clouds go by, while wondering if he could get away with a short flight around campus later, to notice them. He should have heard the Frisbee come hurtling towards him at high speed - but he hadn't. ... And Connor certainly should have noticed three students come running at him at full speed, each trying to grab the Frisbee, jostling one another. He noticed the Frisbee right before it hit him in the face, and he caught it without thought - just before he was tackled by three football players, each of them roughly his size and weight.

Between their weight, and the hard edges of the large books he was carrying, Connor went down  to the ground hard before he knew what happened, and a pained sound left his lips. It wasn't even a word. There were several booming voices talking to him, glaring at him and growling for... Something. He stared at them, uncomprehending as they seemed to struggle and put even more of their weight on his ribs, causing the hero to gasp in pain, before starting to cough, turning his head to one side, and frowning a little, as flecks of blood spattered on the pavement. There was a lot more shouting, but a lot less weight on him, even as the world started to spin and the edges of the world started to fade into utter darkness.

A warm hand landed on one of his shoulders, helping him straighten up a little - but that same hand kept him sitting on the ground, even as he tried to stand up. "Easy, Hill." The smooth, soothing voice of The Silver Wolf floated from above his left shoulder.

"Where'd you come from, professor?" He heard himself ask. Or at least someone was talking. He was too busy focused on trying to figure out how much he could breathe without agonizing pain.

"I was headed to dinner. Is something wrong? You have blood on your lips?" His childhood hero asked, and if Connor focused, he could almost imagine a concerned frown on the other's face, beneath the mask. The other was pressed close enough that he could see the other's blue-grey eyes, despite his mask. They were very pretty, even filled with concern.

"Oh. That's because I coughed up a bit of blood." Connor responded, his voice hoarse and very quiet, as he couldn't get enough air to speak louder. He was doing all he could to avoid panicking - as that would only cause more problems than it would solve. He could feel his healing Ability start to go into overdrive - his energy was rapidly draining and he was pretty sure his chest would be glowing a bright green color - he could see it a little, beneath his shirt.

"Why did you cough up blood? I know that they accidentally tackled you, but you shouldn't have been that badly injured... Grayson, call an ambulance." Silver Wolf ordered. "Hi-Connor, I need you to focus on me, and to answer my questions as you are able to. Do you understand me?"

Connor nodded, responding with an absent "I think my ribs got cracked in the robot attack three days or so ago... I was... trying to get food and... One of the big robots grabbed me. It was squeezing me... Probably because I was trying to escape. They fell on me and... I think they made my ribs worse... Especially since I wasn't coughing blood before."

The frown on Silver Wolf's face became more pronounced "... I was unaware of that. Did you go to a clinic to get treated for your injuries?"

"... No..." Connor admitted quietly "I... Heal fast. I always have. An' I wasn't having any mental-effects like the PSA talked about, so I didn't go." He could feel something brush against his mental defenses, and physically flinched away, shying away from the mental contact.

The professor sighed a little, rubbing his masked face with the hand that wasn't holding him "Yes, but you had been injured in the attack... And those who were injured in the attack also need to speak with one of the detectives who are investigating the cause of it."

Cops were a no-go. Not unless he knew that he was speaking to someone connected to the Brotherhood - and Connor knew that mentor O'Brien was the only full member on the NYCPD - and he was currently on vacation. Like, actually on vacation too, not just going on a mission outside of the city and claiming it to be a vacation to his civilian workplace. "... Don't like cops. Don't trust them - not most of them."

Silver Wolf sighed a little, shaking his head before murmuring "I see. Would you have mentioned being attacked to me?"

"I... Probably." Connor answered quietly, lying through his teeth. If this hadn't happened, no one would have been any the wiser about him being there at all. Stick to the shadows, hide in plain sight. Strike while no one is looking, and leave no trace behind. "If we had time to talk in class."

His professor sighed a little at that, shaking his head and responding "I would hope that you would. The ambulance is here, and they will be taking you to the hospital for treatment. One of the detectives on the case - an old friend of mine, as a matter of fact - will be there to speak with you, once you are stable enough to hold a full conversation. Detective Charles Lee."

A possible member of the Order- in which case he would have to be twice as careful as he normally would have to  be, in order to fly under the radar. He was going to be in hot water as it was, if the Brotherhood found out that he got sent to the hospital for hiding injuries that he'd gotten in a fight that he hadn't been cleared to go in... Or mentioned that he had been part of, at all. Still he responded "Charles Lee... Okay…” as he was loaded up into the ambulance.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Connor woke up to the sound of several people arguing. His ribs didn't hurt - and when he cautiously prodded them, they didn't twinge - and neither did he ache when he took in several deep breaths. He glanced around the room, frowning as he realized that he really had been dragged to a hospital. He wasn't attached to any monitors or an IV drip - and though he could push a button in order to ask for something to eat - or if he could get up and get his own food, the young hero was keenly aware of the fact that he healed much faster than most did - and would likely be told to stay in bed. The group of arguing people were drawing closer, and Connor was seriously contemplating sneaking out of the window and climbing down the side of the hospital... But it might be safer - not to mention he would be much less likely for him to get caught - if he sat on the window ledge and flying back to the university. He had gotten a lot better at flying, since starting professor Wolf's class, and he really didn't want to talk to the police.

Especially since trying to tell them how he'd gotten injured- if he was asked - would be an exercise in creative truth telling, and lies of omission, neither of which the young hero was particularly good at. But Connor had also spoken with Professor Wolf earlier, and that he'd been sternly told to talk to one of the detectives on the case, and as the other had said that one of his friends was on the case (and would know if an injured student of his had actually talked to him). A tall, dark haired man with a bushy mustache and beard came rushing in, followed by a couple of nurses - and all three of them were still arguing with him.

"-as we have said before, Officer Lee, police officers are not allowed into patient rooms without staff first asking if they wish to speak with the officer, if there isn't a court order in place, or if the patient isn't a prisoner getting treatment." One of the nurses growled, their eyes flashing with irritation.

"And I am telling you, that this  young man came into this hospital on a stretcher, because he had hidden injuries he had gained during the robot attack. There is a chance that he might flee the building before I have a chance to speak with him, if you give him an opportunity to do so." Lee snapped back, equally irritated.

“I was planning on staying in the hospital until they released me.” Connor said, speaking up before the argument got worse.

All three of them turned and stared at the young man in shock. "How long have you been awake? How much pain are you in, on a scale of zero to ten, with zero being no pain, and ten being the worst pain you've ever felt?" One of the two nurses asked - neither of them had name tags on, so the young man had no idea what their names were.

"I've been awake for about five minutes or so, and my pain is at a zero, right now." Connor responded honestly, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. Hopefully he would be able to leave the hospital later today - or maybe early tomorrow morning at the latest, as he had classes to go to. He could watch the lectures online, but Professor Todd was prone to giving pop quizzes that he tended not to let those who missed his classes take.

"You will be given pain relievers, should you need it. And no one will judge you for speaking up about your pain." The other nurse responded, sounding a little coaxing. "Neither of us have introduced ourselves to you. I am April Simms, and James Corvo is the head nurse of this unit. This man is detective Lee, and if  you are willing to speak with him about your involvement in the unfortunate incident involving the robots three days ago, that would be very much appreciated."

Connor hesitated for a couple of moments, trying to decide on whether or not it would be more suspicious if he decided to tell them an edited version of the truth, or growl mistrustfully at the cop, refusing to speak with him directly, but agree to talk to one of the two nurses about what had happened. Considering the way that the detective was glaring and grinding his teeth, the young Brotherhood hero suspected that if he did the former, the other would start ranting and raving... And he really didn't want to cause the medical staff here more trouble than he absolutely had to. "... I will speak with the detective - although I would request that another person be in the room, while the two of us speak."

"I - that's-" Officer Lee started, still looking irritated and vaguely insulted.

"That sounds perfectly reasonable to me." Nurse Corvo spoke up, as Simms nodded as well. "Would you prefer one of the two of us stay  here, or would you rather we get one of the legal staff on hand, or would you like a phone to be able to call a lawyer for legal counsel? Not that I am implying that you did anything illegal, simply that you might feel more at ease, if you had someone with legal knowledge with you as you speak with a police officer."

The Brotherhood had given him rather a lot of training on how to interact with police officers - and what they were and were not legally allowed to do by city, state, country and federal law... As well as common tactics that they used in order to try to get what they were looking for, in ways that weren't necessarily  legal in the strictest sense. But he also was very much aware of the fact that it would be somewhat unusual if he were able to navigate such an encounter so easily. But the legal aid that immediately came to mind were all members of the Brotherhood - which would land him into a bit of hot water, as he had spoken with the leading Mentor in New York, and hadn't reported being inured - or in the initial incident three days ago... Which was why he answered with a quiet "I would be grateful if a member of the hospital's legal staff came to help. The only people I can think of off hand who have legal knowledge are all attending the same university I am, in the legal program and I wouldn't want them to worry unnecessarily."

Both of the nurses nodded, and Simms left, while Corvo stayed, leaning a little against the door frame, saying "It shouldn't take too long for someone from legal to show up."

Connor watched with a rather morbid sense of fascination, the fact that the possibly Order-allied detective's left eye started twitching a little as he ground out "Shouldn't you go back to your duties, Nurse Corvo? Aren't you quite busy, as the head nurse of this unit?"

"There are quite a few things I need to be doing - and at the moment, I am observing one of my patients. I would like to ask again if you are in any pain - you will likely be speaking for some time, and... I am a little surprised at how deeply you are breathing, given that one of your ribs punctured your left lung." Corvo responded back, speaking first to Lee, then to Connor. "Is there anything that you need?"

Connor shrugged a little, answering after a couple of moments "I've always been a fast healer - although I really would like something to eat. I haven't had much to eat all day. My ribs were hurting pretty badly when those football players landed on me, but they seem to be fine now."

Corvo nodded, explaining what the medical team had done to stabilize the young man, explaining after "You had started to wake up in the ambulance and were struggling to get out of the vehicle, which was why you were sedated. You should have been out for another four hours, although I suppose the dose that they had given you might have been off... And what would you like to eat? I'll have it brought up to you soon."

He shook his head a little, responding with "I've always had a high metabolism - my system runs through medications faster than most seem to. Especially things like pain killers. And I'm really not in any pain." Connor had been told that he had a high pain threshold from Dr. White - who regularly aided Brotherhood heroes and supporting members, many of whom had been injured repeatedly in various ways. He supposed that he probably should tell them that, but he didn't want to. "I would like a hamburger and a salad... No tomatoes or ketchup - I'm allergic to nightshades and seafood - both finned fish and shellfish. I should have had an epi-pen in my bag... Where is my stuff, by the way?"

"You didn't have a backpack on you, when you were taken from the university. You did have a couple of books with you, as well as a wallet.  Your wallet has been locked up in the hospital's safe - as have your books. your note cards and pens are in the drawer in your bedside table." Corvo explained, gesturing to the bedside table. "I will talk to you about treatment options after Officer Lee has left the room, in order to insure your privacy."

Connor nodded in understanding - having known all of that already, due to the medical training he'd received, but aware that the other had to explain the information to all of the patients that he worked with, in order to keep in compliance. "Okay."

Corvo left the room - likely to order his food, among other things. And Connor was completely unsurprised when, as soon as the door closed and neither of them could hear the nurse's footsteps, Officer Lee moved a couple of steps closer to where Connor was currently laying down - his bed was at an angle and he was surrounded by pillows - probably to prevent him from turning while he was sleeping. The officer cleared his throat and asked "Which street were you on, when the robots attacked three days ago?"

The young man blinked at the other, debating silently on just how to answer the other, deciding to go with a quiet "I did ask for legal counsel, before speaking with you, Officer Lee. And I am going to wait to answer  your questions until after that aid has arrived."

"You have no reason to be wary of me, of this investigation, if you had no part in it. Your reticence to talk is causing me to become suspicious of you. If you had no part in the attack, then you should answer my questions, regardless as to whether or not some blood-sucking lawyer is present." Lee responded brusquely, still scowling darkly.

"I had nothing to do with that robot attack - I simply am exercising my rights as a US citizen. Why are you pushing so hard for me to talk with you, before I am willing to speak with you?" Connor answered back, unable to stop himself from saying, feeling a little irritable. He was also starting to hurt, realizing that whatever painkiller that they'd injected into him was wearing off. On the other hand, his mind was much clearer. "You're really red -  have you been out in the light for too long? Learning how to step into the shade might help you. Which hospital am I in?"

The possibly-Order allied police Officer squinted at him for several long moments, and Connor was internally cursing himself. What he'd just said was very close to a code phrase that he might use, when trying to speak with a member of the Order in a public place - or in a place where they were being monitored. Lee snapped back with "You are in St. Joseph's. And there is no cause for you to be using that sort of tone with me, boy. I could bring you into the station for questioning - and given how stubborn you're being right now, I am tempted to do so."

"...  You would drag someone who was rushed to the hospital a couple of hours ago at most down to the police station? And you wonder why I want someone else in the room while we talk?! Who knows what you might try to accuse me of, or said that I said, whether or not I actually said it." Connor growled back, eyes flashing in irritation. For the briefest moment, his sight shifted, and the police officer in front of him was definitely a burning red color. This sort of casual threat to abuse the power that they wielded was one of the reasons why the Brotherhood was still deeply suspicious of the Order. And Connor really wished that he'd been able to request to go to a different hospital than this one... As St. Joseph's was run and staffed by almost entirely Order-allied medical staff.

Before Officer Lee could do or say anything else, a firm knock on the door interrupted what was turning into an ugly argument. Connor called out quickly, before Lee could try to turn whoever it was away "Yes, who is it?"

"I'm William Johnson, one of the lawyers who works for this hospital. I was told that you requested a bit of legal counsel, while interacting with the police detective who was sent to speak with you about how you had gotten injured? May I please come in?" The person behind the door responded.

"Yes, I had. Please, come in. He was trying to get me to answer questions before you came in. I can guess why, but I'd like not to assume that he's a complete and total ass." Connor responded, slightly concerned. His brain to mouth filter was usually a lot better than it currently was - and he wasn't in enough pain to become so blunt... Then again, he was also coming down from a pain killer, and it might be still affecting his mind... Which was another reason why he wanted someone else in the room. Connor was also aware that Johnson was a member of the Order - and fairly influential from what they'd been able to gather about the incredibly successful lawyer. Which meant that he needed to guard his words fiercely, as though the truce between the Brotherhood and the Order was far from unstable, neither side really trusted the other, at least not from what Connor had observed of the mentors interacting with similarly ranked members of the Order. Not that such things happened often, as far as the young hero was aware. When the Brotherhood and the Order had to coordinate a large scale fight, or if a villain, gaining strength quietly had launched something undeniably public before the Brotherhood could take them down, that was usually coordinated through the ambassadors that each group had gifted the other, in order to make sure that everything went as smoothly as possible.

"-ng man, are you listening?" Johnson asked not unkindly, as Connor's mind (and attention) came back to the scene playing out in front of him.

"I... No, I wasn't, and I apologize. I think they gave me a pain killer while I was out, and it's still affecting me a little bit. I'm... Easily distracted right now and I really hate it." The medical student responded. He could definitely sense a bit of a floating feeling, and as he became a bit more aware of his surroundings, Connor could definitely tell that something was muffling his senses a bit. It was disconcerting and the young man deeply hated the involuntary loss of control. He'd have to be very careful not to touch or hold anything very firmly at all, as he might misjudge the strength needed and break something.

Johnson hummed a little, before nodding in understanding, replying with "I can understand that you might be feeling a little disoriented. It might be a little too bright in this room - do you want me to turn off the overhead light, or to shutter the curtains?"

"Oh please, he was much more coherent before you came in. I bet this little shit is just acting this way now, in order to avoid talking to me. You've been acting shifty since I first came in here." Lee snarled, standing over Connor and looming at him in a very threatening manner.

The young hero glared darkly at Lee, the irritation that he'd been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of boiling up to the surface. Before he could say something possibly very stupid (especially to a tetchy police officer) the world shifted around the young man, and he shifted into his eagle form. Connor, disoriented from the shift, started to flap his wings rapidly, failing not to panic a little, and feeling threatened by the large, looming shadow above him. Connor was also under the blankets and was struggling and failing to find his way out of them easily, as it hurt too much to move. He hopped a little from foot to foot on the bed, as he struggled to try to fly high enough to pull free of the blankets, before settling down, too exhausted and pained to continue.

Then a strange, offending hand reached into the blankets, reaching towards him, as a loud, irritating voice boomed above him. This caused the young man to snap his sharp beak at the fingers, lunging towards them, intending to get blood - to drive whoever it was away, so that he could heal in piece. Besides, the moving fingers looked like food and he was so very hungry.

The yelling got much, much louder as he clamped down on the fingers, and moments later, the blankets that were trapping him to the bed were ripped away. Connor let out a piercing cry, tugging on a couple of Lee's fingers - unable to break through the material of the other's gloves, but unwilling to let go, either. A distant part of him was trying to get the rest of him to stop.  His instincts were getting out of control. There was a lot more shouting, and someone in medical scrubs came in, carrying a giant needle. Connor screeched at them, having let go of the officer's finger, and was hopping away from grabbing hands as best as he could. Unfortunately there were what felt like several dozen hands forcing him still - and Connor wasn't able to even twitch his fingers as something painful pierced his back. He couldn't even turn his head in order to find out what was hurting him so badly.

He fought the wave of exhaustion, struggling against the darkness eating at the edges of his vision. He needed to flee! To escape before those who wanted to try to kill and (possibly) eat him do so! In order to try to escape, the young man concentrated hard - managing to partially change shape back - although whatever was running through him was still slowing him down quite a bit - and he hadn't managed to fully change back. He had feathers along his arms, and the thin  hospital gown was somewhat restricting his movements. The hands that had been on his eagle form were still there, but as Connor could fight and struggle more in this in-between form, he was able to throw off several sets of hands, rolling away from their grasping fingers and hiding under the bed. His sight had shifted to his second form and there were enemies everywhere - and he could feel whatever they'd injected into him continuing to take effect - and they were still trying to reach him... And this was why Connor took the opportunity to crawl as fast as he could on his hands and knees to the bathroom attached to the hospital room he was in, dodging more hands and locking the door behind him, leaning against it with his full weight as he passed out, determined not to get caught.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Connor groggily woke up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the palms of his hands, as he had just realized that his fingers were clawed. His mind felt fuzzy and he felt like he was trying to think and move through molasses. His mouth felt dry and as the Brotherhood hero took in where he was - a strange bathroom - and suppressed the panic that was slowly bubbling up to the surface. It was obvious to the young man that he had been captured by… Someone. Who, why, and what their intentions were, the young man couldn't guess. Not that it really mattered, as his first duty was to escape. There was a small window in the bathroom that he had locked himself in… The door handle jiggled a little and a stranger called out uncertainly as the young man realized that he was in a hospital gown “Mr. Hill, are you awake? The Silver Wolf says that you have just woken up. Do you know where you are?”

“I was told that I’m in St. Joseph’s. But I was drugged against my will.” Connor responded, feeling defensive and more than a little trapped “I can feel the light touch of a telepath against my mental defenses. Why should I believe a single thing you have to say?”

"You really are acting highly suspicious, young man." Officer Lee sneered - or someone who sounded like the pompous police officer snarked derisively.

"Charles, if you would please try not to antagonize one of my students, I would be grateful." Professor Wolf responded, sounding stern and a little disappointed in how his friend was handling things. Connor heard the sounds of people shuffling around the door, and Professor Wolf's voice sounded much closer to the door, than he had previously, as he spoke in a calm tone of voice "Connor, you really are in St. Joseph's hospital, and you are perfectly safe here. I can understand your wariness, as they did inject you with a sedative, after you accidentally changed into your animal form. Do you know what caused the shift?"

"Yeah - Officer Lee was being an as-... He was being very rude, and he was trying to get me to answer his questions, without a lawyer being present. I was trying to be polite... But he kept being rude and pushing me... The first dose of whatever pain killers or sedatives that they'd given me hadn't fully cleared my system at the time, which meant that my emotional control was... Shaky and I lost control over that ability. He's lucky I couldn't reach him, or I might have thrown him through a wall." Connor responded, doing his best to be polite, despite the urge to cuss the police officer out rising as he recounted what happened. "... I... Do admit that after I shifted forms, I was pretty much running entirely on instinct."

The professor hummed a little at that before responding carefully "Do you think that it might have been safer for everyone, including yourself, that they tried to sedate you, while you had been in eagle form?"

"... Maybe. Probably not. I would've calmed down within an hour, maybe two, and I only bit Lee's fingers because he was trying to grab me from under the blankets I'd gotten trapped under." The younger man answered, feeling a little bit foolish for having reacted in the way that he had - but he wasn't the only one who had reacted badly earlier.

Silver Wolf hummed a little again, before asking kindly "Are you willing to come out of the bathroom now, or would you like a hand getting up? In addition - officer Lee does have a couple of questions he'd like to ask you, however he isn't the only officer assigned to this case, and if you'd like to speak with someone else - as I can sense that the two of you have a... Fundamental personality clash... That might be best, particularly since you are still injured from the attack three days ago."

"I'm the closest officer here, H-Silver Wolf! It makes no sense to send me away, particularly since that bratty college kid seems to actually like you enough to answer questions!" Lee complained loudly. 

The other's voice - which had been familiar in a deeply distressing way earlier, but how, Connor hadn't been able to pinpoint until now. "... I would like to talk to someone else. And I remember you, Lee. You were that horrible police officer who had accused me of burning... B-burning down the... The a-apartment complex I lived with my mother, because th-they found ash in w-what remained of my f-fingernails when I was four. Did you ever find out who actually set that fire, or were you too busy trying to find any evidence to sentence a small child for such an awful crime?"

"You did have ash under your fingernails, you miserable little shit! I recognize you now - and no, we never were able to close that case." Lee hissed in surprise. "How did you have ash under your nails?"

"Because I was trying to save my mother, who was trapped in our apartment, under a burning chunk of ceiling, asshole! She'd told me to run, but I... I wanted to try to save her. The... the firefighter had to drag me away and..." The firefighting team hadn't been able to go back in time to save everyone - his mother being one of those who had died in that awful fire. The burns on his hands were aching badly and he pushed away the sound that the fire made, and the awful, stinking smell of burning tissue as he struggled to save his mother, smoke choking his lungs and stinging his eyes. Connor didn't have the time to deal with a flashback right now. He scrubbed the tears from his eyes, and silently cursed the shakiness in his voice as he finished his sentence "I couldn't save her..."

Connor heard a couple of muffled sounds - as if someone was trying to talk, but that someone else was restraining them from speaking before Professor Wolf spoke in a low and surprisingly frigid tone of voice "Officer Lee, I would recommend that you continue your search for clues in this investigation outside of this hospital, and that you not contact this particular student of mine in this particular investigation... Or to attempt to approach him for several months, at least. I passed officer Cormac on my way into this room, and would recommend that you send him in, as he has a much different investigative approach. I hope that you would understand what you mean."

A silence that felt like it stretched for eternity followed, broken eventually by an irritable "If you say so, Silver Wolf, then I will take your recommendation." That sounded like Lee, and he heard one set of footsteps leaving, and the young man flinched as he heard a door slam. 

More footsteps, walking away from the hospital room that Connor had been stuck inside. The young man activated his second sight, and counted the number of people in the room, and something inside of him calmed down as the soothing blue presence of Professor Wolf... Who, now that he wasn't looking at the other while he spoke, sounded an awful lot like the head of the English Department, Professor Haytham Kenway. The two of them had similar builds, accents and cadences while they spoke - although the latter sounded perpetually irritated. Lee was gone, and there was only one of the two nurses who had been their earlier. Which was why the young man carefully got up off of the floor, swaying a little and opening the door after he was able to force himself to take a fully human form. 

"Thank you for getting rid of that officer, professor. I was planning on answering his questions truthfully... But he was being so pushy and he... He seemed like one of those kinds of officers who wrote down what they felt was the truth, or what they wanted the witnesses to say, whether or not that was what the witness actually said, to suit their purposes. I want to help, as the robot incident hurt a lot of people... 'S why I'm becoming a doctor. I thought about becoming a firefighter... But I'm... I can't..." Connor could barely tolerate birthday candles, and hated camping out with other people, as a campfire was usually made, and it took all of the young man's self control not to throw dirt and water on the grasping, hungry thing as soon as it started, lest it get out of control and consume more of his loved ones. "... I don't like fire. At all."

"Understandably so, given what you've lost." Professor Wolf responded, voice gentle as the other reached out and lightly touched one of his shoulders.

A feeling of peace and serenity that was almost certainly sent to him by the telepathic Order-allied hero washed over him, and despite the fact that he probably should try to resist the gentle mental manipulation, Connor disliked being utterly miserable... And the peace, even though it was given to him by someone else, was wonderful. He frowned as  he realized that someone had taken his fingerless gloves off - though he noted that the burn scars on his hands were smaller than the last time he'd checked them. The young man leaned into the professor's touch a little, as he allowed the other to help him back to the bed, murmuring a quiet "Thank you." to the older man.

Nurse Corvo walked over to his bedside and told him "Your meal will be up shortly - and I need to check your bandages - between shifting shapes repeatedly and being slumped on the ground for a little over an hour, I need to check them."

"Fine, but ... I would like my gloves back, if it would be okay for me to wear them. I... I don't like the memories my scars remind me of - and when my hands get cold, they ache." Connor requested, sighing a little as he struggled to keep himself from rubbing the scars on the back of his hands. The young man was well aware of the fact that his scars aching was a psychosomatic symptom of his anxiety most of the time, but he still would rather avoid dealing with cold-related pain. The fact that his scars would also be hidden and thus much less likely for anyone to ask about was... Another reason why he wanted the gloves back.

"I will need to check the hospital's policy on that, but I believe that I should be able to get something for your hands." Corvo responded as he checked the other's bandages, asking "Does it hurt when I press on them, or when you breathe deeply?"

Connor felt the other's hand press lightly against his ribs - and the young man took in a deep breath, only mildly surprised to find that he was completely free of pain. "No, I'm fine. But I've always been a very fast healer, for the most part." None of the Brotherhood-allied doctors could figure out why it was taking so long for his burns to heal - and while a couple of them had speculated that they might heal faster, if he were to get injured in those areas - like a long cut or something like that, both the new injury and the burn scar there would heal as it normally did for him. Connor had opted not to try to find out if that was true or not.

The nurse nodded, responding with "We had your ribs x-rayed when you were sedated, after being rushed into the ER. Your ribs were clearly fractured then, and in order to check to know for certain that your ribs have healed, rather than you being under the lingering effects of a sedative, we would need to run another x-ray on  your ribs to be sure."

The young man nodded in understanding asking quietly "How long will it take to schedule an x-ray? Do I have to stay in the hospital, or would I be able to schedule one with the clinic I usually go to in a couple of days?" He wasn't injured badly enough to stay in the hospital overnight - although they might want to keep him if they thought that he wasn't able to keep his Abilities in check by himself. He had heard that civilian hospital did do that, if they thought that the patient they were treating was a sufficient danger to themselves or others. Not that he was, but Connor knew that trying to push to be released would likely be seen as suspicious - especially since he would be going back to his dorm room at the nearby university.

"I will need to check with radiology, but we might be able to schedule you in for later today. As for whether or not you are going home today - that depends on what the x-rays say, in addition to a couple of other things. Do you live by yourself?" Corvo asked.

"No, I live in the southern dorms, at the NYC University. I live in the four-person dorm wing, and the room is full." Connor answered honestly. He didn't really talk with his dorm mates all that much. he had been put with university students his age - but they were focused more on the partying and social aspects of the university, and attended the minimum number of classes that they could get away with. Their parents could easily afford to pay for individual rooms, but his dorm mates had chattered excitedly about being able to fully embrace all aspects of going to such a place. He wouldn't count on them for much, but he really wanted to go home. "If  you're concerned about whatever was injected into my system, I have a very high metabolism, and given the amount of stuff you'd probably given me in Eagle form... I should be fully clear of it in about two or three hours at most."

The nurse nodded in understanding, asking "If you needed help, do you believe that you would be able to count on your roommates for help? Or would you be able to stay with a relative, until your ribs heal, at least enough for you to get around without pain?"

Yes, there were people that he could go to, while healing up. But that would mean explaining how he'd gotten injured, and Connor would rather avoid the hours' long lecture that Chevalier would growl at him for acting before asking permission... As the French Mentor would likely also insinuate thinly veiled threats about trying to lobby the other mentors in the area to pull him out of school, so that he would either apprentice under one of the Order's doctors - or have him be a general-purpose agent/hero. "I... Not really? As I mentioned before, my mom died when I was little, and my step-father died a couple of years ago. As far as I know, I have no other living family."

"I see. Do you know your biological father?" Corvo asked curiously.

"I... Mom gave me his name, but to my knowledge, I've never met him." The young man responded quietly. He was kind of curious as to whether the Haytham Kenway who taught at the university was his father, or not. His mom had given him a picture of the man, and they looked similar - she had also described his father to Connor exactly once- and though it had been when he was very little, the description still stuck in his mind. But he had no idea how to approach the other, and was rather apprehensive to do so - as his mom had never told Haytham about him, and she had hinted that there was more to the other, than the clever and sharp-tongued English major that she'd a brief relationship with, when the both of them had been in college. Part of the reason why Connor had gone to the university he was going to, as in addition to the very good medical program, it was the university that both of his parents had attended.

"Alright. Do you know anything of his medical history?" The nurse asked.

Professor Wolf - who neither Connor nor Corvo had realized was still there, shifted suddenly, causing both of them to look at him. "Perhaps I should step out, if the two of you are going to discuss his treatment and medical history."

"I... I hadn't realized that you were still there, Silver Wolf. Yes, that would probably be for the best." Corvo responded with a nod, before glancing at Connor,and apologizing with a formal "I hadn't realized that there was someone else in the room, and I should have been more attentive to the room before starting to discuss such things with you."

"Apology accepted - and I probably should have noticed that one of my professors was in the room, before continuing the conversation." Connor responded, tracking Silver Wolf's movements as the other left the room with the corner of one of his eyes. "As for my biological father's medical history... The only things I know about that are the facts that I get my Abilities from him - the high healing ability, a second sight, and shape-shifting." Also the above-normal enhanced physical abilities.

Neither of them noticed that the Silver Wolf was lingering a little by the door, as Corvo asked "What are your parents' names? I have requested your medical information from the doctor that you regularly go to... But apparently they've been out of practice for a couple of years."

"Oh... I hadn't realized that. My mom's name is Kaniehtí:io Hill, and my father's name is Haytham Kenway." Connor responded quietly. He was glad that they hadn't been able to actually connect with the Brotherhood doctors who had taken care of him when  he needed it when he was younger - as that would open up a can of worms that the young man didn't want to deal with.As neither of them were aware of the Silver Wolf eavesdropping, neither of them noticed the startled reaction that those names had provoked from the well known, semi-retired hero, as the other left the room entirely. "As for any major illnesses or whatever... I broke my left arm when I was ten, falling out of a tree, and I'm highly allergic to shellfish and nightshades."

The two of them continued to talk about the young man's medical history, going through all of the intake questions. It was a long process, and about half-way through, Connor's lunch arrived. The young man was careful to avoid any injuries that he had gotten while he'd gone on missions - as he had no scars from those wounds, thanks in part due to his high healing factor, and the skill and resources of the Brotherhood's medical staff, when he had gotten badly injured.

Corvo frowned at him a little, after they finished the intake paperwork, remarking quietly "I am an empath, and I can sense that you may not be telling me everything. But if this is everything that you would like to discuss with me, I do understand, as I am a stranger. I am here to talk with you, should you wish to talk about... Anything that you'd like to."

"Thanks for the offer, although I'm fine, apart from the maybe-still cracked ribs. Thank you for the concern." Connor responded with a small smile. Before either of them could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. The young man called out "Yes, who is it?"

"I'm officer Cormac, here to speak with a Connor Hill, about the robot incident three days ago?" The person who had knocked on the door to the hospital room he was currently in.

A brief flash of surprise crossed Connor's face as he heard the other speak, and the young man's heart sank a little, as he recognized the other's voice. It had been years since he'd last seen the other - and he might be wrong about who this particular police officer was. Hopefully he would be able to talk Cormac into not reporting this to the Brotherhood "Yeah, come on in."

 


	8. Chapter 8

Talking to officer Cormac had been nerve wracking - particularly since he was quite certain that the other was Mentor Shay Cormac - but the last time that the young man had met the other, he'd been twelve. The other had been sent off to be an ambassador to the Order, and hadn't had any direct contact with Connor or any of the other recruits who lived on the eastern seaboard since then... And the young man was well aware that at twelve, he looked quite a bit different than he did now. But the other didn't seem to recognize him, which was a good thing, as otherwise he'd have to try to do some fast talking in order to avoid potential trouble.

The officer was about to head off, when Cormac paused at the door, squinting at him, before a flash of what seemed like recognition flashed across his face. "Ratonhnhaké:ton, is that you? I thought that you looked familiar..."

"I... Uhm... N... No?" Connor tried to lie, knowing that doing so was largely futile,. It was difficult to lie to an Empath - especially one as powerful as mentor Shay.

"Ah... I'm guessing that the official report you have me was a little... Lacking. Doing a bit of... Proactive helping, lad?" Shay asked, raising an eyebrow at the other, an amused smile appearing on his face.

"I... Yeah. and I wasn't that badly injured. I got landed on by three line-backers which caused my injuries to get worse. Please don't mention mention this to anyone? The robots were emitting some sort of communications-dampening field, and I couldn't contact anyone to ask permission first." Connor explained, hoping that the full truth would get him out of trouble. Besides, Cormac was one of the more lenient mentors, at least he had been before he'd been sent over to the Order.

"Ah... Did you seek forgiveness, or are you hoping not to get caught at all? Whose the lead mentor? I know that Liam was at one point..." Shay asked curiously, having closed the door so that they were less likely to be overheard.

"... Mentor O'Brien has taken over mentorship of the eastern states, as Mentor Achilles died three years ago. Chevalier is the mentor here in NYC and seems to be hell bent on torturing all of us as much as he possibly can." Connor explained. He'd been told to report to the main bureau in the city immediately, as all of the Assassins had been. the young man had almost not gone, as he was in the middle of his final exams for the year, and was worried that whatever it was might make him late to one of his exams... But Connor had gone, nonetheless, out of a sense of duty, and because it had been tagged as urgent. Chevalier had been the one to tell them, voice calm and expression frustratingly neutral as he told them that Achilles had died in his sleep - the mentor had just come back from helping civilians in the immediate aftermath of a hurricane, and had apparently been exposed to chemicals in the tainted water and died in his sleep. The young man had shut down emotionally for a while after that, focused on getting through his exams, and throwing himself further into study, as though his adoptive father had grumbled a little about him becoming a doctor, Achilles had encouraged him to follow his dreams.

"Ah... I'm sorry for your loss, lad. They hadn't... They hadn't told me that he'd passed." Cormac responded, a sorrowful and startled expression flashing across his face. "How are you holding up?"

"I..." he wanted to lie, to say that he was perfectly fine, thank you very much... But the words came tumbling from Connor's lips before he could stop them "I miss him every day. We didn't always get along very well but he... He was supportive, in his own way. And Chevalier's become such an asshole in the past couple of years. I mean... It might just be a side affect of his grieving process, but he seems to relish in making all of us miserable, and it's not like we can talk to any of the other mentors about it because he always make sure that we are off on missions or busy doing things that we can't easily drop in our civilian lives, when the other mentors come over to visit."

The police officer frowned a little at that, before asking "Have you been writing down what has been particularly trying or offensive, or things that have been bothersome? Having written proof of shite he's done helps to prove your case... Otherwise it's just a case of you versus him - or the lot of you against him and he's... Well known for being rather abrasive, and unfortunately, Grand Mentor Miles tends to prefer mentors who have a harsher hand with younger heroes like you - as he says that its good to be very firm with discipline."

"I... I haven't been... But for the most part, it's not like he sends any of us nasty emails or texts, it's just... How he phrases things when he's talking to us, either when we're in front of him, or oh the phone. I know that I'm not the only one who's been having difficulties with him, but he's always been a bit of an asshole... and it's like, the more power he's given, the more of an asshole he becomes. But I don't have to deal with him very much and if... When I finish medical school and pass my boards, he won't be able to boss me around nearly as much, as then I'd be under the direction of the  medical command, and that's run by someone else." Connor answered back, shaking his head a little.

"Ah... That makes things more difficult. But I would suggest talking to the other novices about the difficulties you've been having with Chevalier. If enough of you have complaints about him - and you start documenting what and how he says those things, you should be able to get the higher ups to do something to reprimand him - and probably remove him from being the Dai of the New York City bureaus - as there isn't much chance of him not taking his anger out on the lot of you for daring to complain about his shining beacon of leadership skills." Shay responded, rolling his eyes a little and sighing.The other looked Connor over for a couple moments and said in a teasing tone of voice "I would have recognized you a bit faster, if you had that little plush toy you always had when you were younger, especially in the room you were sleeping in. Do you still have it?"

Connor felt his cheeks burn and he fidgeted with his hands before grumpily replying "Yes, I still have the... The plush toy. I... I know it's childish, but it's one of the few things I have left of my mother, and I'm not going to get rid of it!"

"Easy, lad, easy. I wasn't going to suggest that you get rid of the silver wolf plush that Ziio gave you when you were little. I was just curious as to whether or not that you still had it, especially since the rumor is you've already met  your childhood idol. How'd that go?" There was still a teasing lilt to Cormac's voice, and the other was grinning at him mischievously at the younger man.

Connor scowled a little, as his arms folded over his chest defensively "The meeting went alright. Not as well as I'd hoped, as my ability to shapeshift manifested a couple of months before then, and I've been having difficulties keeping to one form, when highly emotional and that first class was... A bit of a mess to start with. He's an excellent teacher - firm, but good at explaining things, and his voice is soothing and wonderful to listen to. He's confident in what he teaches us, but he's not cocky or derisive, like some people I could name and- why are you looking at me like that?"

Cormac's smirk had widened, and the younger hero was struggling not to fluster at the strangely knowing quality of the other's expression. "It's just... I knew that you had a bit of a puppy crush on him 

when  you were younger, lad. It's kind of adorable to see that  it's persisted." Shay responded back, a teasing note still in his voice.

That caused the young man to fluster terribly, as he glowered at the window that was set on the wall opposite from where Cormac was still smirking at him. "I... I might have a bit of a celebrity crush on him, but probably not! He's done a lot of good, and unlike some Order-Heroes, he isn't obsessed with the spotlight and being seen as doing good deeds and raking in the accolades and fame that such things accumulate... He seems like he genuinely wants to help people... Especially since he's been teaching civilians with Abilities how to control them, and only a couple of them have later become Order heroes." He was still blushing rather a lot, as he struggled to keep calm.

"Uh huh." Cormac hummed in response, and when Connor briefly glanced back at him, the other was still smirking at him. "If that's the story you're sticking to, lad, I won't question it."

"Good... And while I do admit on the police report that I did kick a couple of the smaller robots away from me - or from that older lady who was being attacked by them, I had absolutely nothing to do do with the unconfirmed reports of an unknown hero who had been fighting the robots before the Silver Wolf showed up. Why are the police interested in finding this person, anyways?" Connor responded back, doing his best to shove his confusing feelings away from himself, so that he could focus on what was important.

"The unknown hero might be able to provide them with a bit more information about what had happened, as from what we were able to gather from other witnesses, the unknown hero was the first to arrive on scene, within the first couple of minutes of the robots appearing from parts unknown and wreaking havoc. There's also the fact on several of the robots, a strange symbol engraved on them. It's a tiny, purple, five petaled flower. We were hoping that this unknown hero might be able to give us a certain direction, or street, that the robots first appeared in, as it might give us a better area to figure out as to where the robots may have escaped from, if, indeed, they had escaped holding in a completely legitimate laboratory, rather than they might have been released for a malicious purpose." Shay responded, picking his words very carefully.

"If this unknown hero were to present themselves to an officer, would they have to take an official statement - in either their civilian identity, or in their heroic one? As there are some heroes who prefer to work in the shadows, rather than with the bright, burning spotlight of the public eye." Connor responded, doing his best to phrase things carefully, as he was aware that the other had to carefully balance the two aspects of his work-life carefully, and was currently speaking to him as an officer of the law.

"If this unknown hero was to approach an officer requesting that their testimony remain anonymous, they would be allowed to do so." Cormac responded, a wry smirk appearing on his face "I can understand not wanting to be subjected to the prying that public heroes are subjected to on a daily basis. I can only imagine how exhausting that might be. Is there something that you'd like to ask or report to me, Mr. Hill?"

The young man's mouth went dry for several long seconds, but Cormac was a member of the Brotherhood, and from what he could gather of the other, he probably wouldn't rat him out to Chevalier for helping people without having permission to do, what he had done to help others. And the young man really had tried to check in first, but had been unable to do so. "There is, as a matter of fact. But I would like to request that this report be made anonymously."

Cormac nodded, moving away from the door and sitting down next to him, pulling out another form, starting to fill it out as he asked "What precisely is it that you would like to tell me, now that you are giving an anonymous report? Please be as thorough as possible, and I'm probably going to be asking some clarifying questions."

The young man nodded in understanding, before explaining everything that he had seen, heard and done in the battle - including trying to use his phone before he'd jumped in, to find that his phone had gone dead, when less than an hour before, it had been at a full charge. Connor explained that once he'd gone back to the university, he could turn his phone back on - and that it had the nearly full charge that it had previously.

"How many people did you free from the chemically induced rage? You mentioned that you freed several - and a couple of them have come forwards, they were the ones who talked about you. But I'm not sure if all of them have come forwards, and there was a bit of the drugs still in their system. We do have a full antidote for it, but the half-life is very long, and causes the victim to be prone to bouts of rages and vast emotional swings that are dangerous to themselves and those around them." Cormac responded.

"Err... I'm not sure of the exact number, but more than four, less than twelve? I'll give you a description of what each of them look like. I can also sketch their faces out, if you give me some paper and a pen or pencil?" Connor responded after a moment, feeling more than a little anxious - as the last thing that he'd wanted was for those apparently still affected civilians to get further hurt due to the drugs that Connor hadn't been able to fully clear from their systems... "I... I hadn't realized that they weren't fully better, once they woke up from the drug-induced rage." Not that he would have  been able to help more than a couple of them, if he had poured enough healing energy into each of the civilians he had rescued completely, from what Cormac was implying. Which would have put him into a more dangerous situation - and worse yet, put the civilians into a lot more danger as well.

"If you would do that, it would be much appreciated." Cormac responded, handing Connor several blank pieces of paper and a pencil. After a couple of moments, he remarked lightly "It's... A little unusual to have a healer wandering around without any minders. That is... If the brotherhood is aware of that particular Ability of yours, Connor."

"I... That particular Ability of mine kicked in only a short time ago and I... have yet to inform them of it. I just... I don't want to be locked up somewhere, supposedly for my own protection, because of one of my Abilities! I want to be able to go out and do things, not just be in some bunker somewhere, bored out of my mind until someone needs healing." Connor protested, as a very real sense of panic nearly overwhelmed his ability to think at least somewhat clearly. He was fairly sure that Cormac wouldn't do that to him - but there was always that possibility, and it was a chance that the young man wasn't exactly willing to take.

"Easy, Connor! I can understand not wanting to be put in a little box like that. I'm not going to tell anyone - although I would like to share with you a little secret, that I'm sure the other mentors wouldn't want me to tell you... I've been working with the Order for the better part of twenty years - and they aren't nearly as restrictive with their  healers as we are. They're pulled in, after a major disaster somewhere, to help heal those who are in critical condition of course, as well as to heal anyone who needs it after a particularly bad mission - but they aren't trapped in strongholds until then. they're allowed to go about and do what they feel that they'd like to do in the meantime. They're even allowed to go on missions as well - and more than missions of mercy, or clean-up missions as well." Cormac soothed, placing a soothing hand on one of the younger man's shoulders. "Not that I'm saying you should run off to the Order on a whim, lad. It's just something that I've noticed over the years, of working with both organizations."

"I... That's... I hadn't known that." Connor responded. He'd heard that they did the same thing to their healers - locking them away, to keep them protected and away from the world until they were needed somewhere. But he could also tell that Shay was telling him the truth. It was a little odd the way that Cormac phased it - making it sound almost as if the other was leaning more towards how the Order wanted to run things. But that might just be one particular aspect of how the Order did things and besides... Connor wasn't going to judge the other for those sorts of views. Slips happened, especially when one worked with the other side for so long, after all. "It's... That's good information to have, thank you."

"You're welcome, Connor. Did you decide to become a doctor before your healing Ability came in, or after?" Shay asked, hazel eyes sparkling a little with mischief.

"Before. I've always wanted to be able to help people like that and..." Connor abruptly stopped speaking, startled that he'd been about to confess that there were certain aspects of being a generalist Brotherhood hero that the young man found that he desperately didn't want to do - like kill in cold blood. If he was being attacked, or if his friends were in immediate danger, that was another matter entirely. But some of the kill missions that he had read that previous Brotherhood heroes had gone on made him sick to his stomach... Particularly as Connor was aware of the fact that occasionally the information that the brotherhood got on someone who was a potential threat, who had been deemed too dangerous to live, and after having been approached to see if their path could be modified to be less destructive... Occasionally those reports  would be falsified, because a particular Brotherhood agent hadn't been as thorough in the information gathering or potential pacification of said potential villain as they could have been...

Or, there was the occasional possible villain who had been deemed to dangerous to allow to live, was killed and after the fact, it was revealed that they were being blackmailed into doing evil deeds by another villain - who had been missed the first time. Mistakes like that happened, and while that wasn't a weekly occurrence... It happened often enough to make Connor very uncomfortable with the idea of going on such missions. He was well aware of the fact that several of his fellow novice heroes didn't seem to even be aware of the risk of that - but even talking about such past errors was utterly forbidden. He glanced over at Shay - who seemed to have finished saying something again - but if the officer had, Connor had utterly tuned the other out. "I... Did you say something? My mind wandered for a little bit, and I'm sorry if I did ignore you."

"It's alright - I can sense that you're in rather a lot of turmoil at the moment." Shay responded quietly, reaching out and lightly ruffling the younger man's hair, and smiling a little when Connor scowled up at him for doing so. "But to rephrase what I said while your mind was wandering, having specialists in different areas is very important - especially those trained in medical areas, as we're always low on medical staff. It's a good choice, and I'm fairly sure that being a doctor will suit you quite well, Connor."

"Oh... Th-thank you!" The young man responded, feeling himself fluster a little at the encouragement. It was nice to hear that least one of the mentors in the area thought that him becoming a doctor was a good idea, rather than a waste of his other talents. "It's... The encouragement is very much appreciated."

"You're welcome lad. You should hear some of the mentors' meetings - more than a couple of the mentors will bitch for hours about how low we are on certain kinds of specialized staff - and turn around and complain loudly about how expensive such training is, and why can't those who are seeking schooling for such stuff apprentice under those who are already in the brotherhood, as it would be more cost-effective that way."

"But this way, those of us who are trained specialists in a given area, are able to work with civilians during large scale disasters, and if asked by reporters or civilians if we are trained properly, we can say that we have, without needing forged documents. In addition to that, I know that some fields, including the medical and technological fields, are evolving all the time, and training styles of different professions in t hose fields are updated frequently. There are things that could be missed, to improve the quality of care, if those of us who are interested in the medical field, for example, were to apprentice under those currently working with the brotherhood... Which is something that those specialists will bring up themselves if they are asked about such things. And it's safer for everyone, if we're trained at an institution, as for the first several years, we aren't touching or interacting with patients - which we would be, under that alternate system. Which could be dangerous." Connor responded, eyes flashing as he started to go into a bit of a rant about why it was necessary. It was an argument that he'd had with more than a couple of mentors in the past.

"And I agree with you, lad. Is there anything else that you'd like to report, what happened during the battle, where the robots were coming from, stuff like that?" Shay asked, redirecting the conversation a little, as the other seemed to be rather surprised at how strongly the young man felt about that particular topic.

"From what I saw, they erupted out of the sewers - but I don't know if that happened on other streets or not. I only saw some of the robots crawling out of the sewers. By the time I was on the scene, a bunch of them were already scuttling around and causing havoc." Connor reported, shrugging his shoulders a little.

"Alright. Thank you for the information that you've given me. It will be helpful in the investigation, and I won't put your name on the heroic account of what happened... Would you like the first account to be anonymous as well? I should have asked you, before that." Shay asked.

Connor hesitated for a couple of moments before saying "I... You can put my civvie name on the first report. It's a version of the truth that happened to me... Just not the full truth."

Shay nodded, gathering the drawings and headed out the door, calling over his shoulder "I hope that you heal well, lad. If you remember anything else about what happened three days ago, here’s my card - if you call or text the number on there, it will connect directly to me."

"Thank you!" Connor responded, relaxing a little, glad that the matter had been settled to easily. He trusted that Shay would do as he promised - as the other was a member of the Brotherhood of heroes. “I will definitely keep that in mind.” The younger man promised as he pocketed the business card.


	9. Chapter 9

As Connor had expected, the hospital kept him overnight - not because of his injuries, as his ribs (and the lung that had been punctured) had healed fully by the time that he was checked over for how his injuries were doing, but because of what they'd given him to keep him calm. Not that he would have reacted so badly when he'd woken up, if that asshole cop hadn't been antagonizing him. The young man had been released, and several weeks had passed. Professor Wolf was the only one of his instructors who had asked to see a doctor's note, clearing him for classes... But given how active the class that he took with the semi-retired Order hero was, it made sense.

Several weeks passed since the robot attack, and though Connor was paying attention to any developments - both in civilian circles, and occasionally checking in with Mentor Chevalier, the investigations into who had done this, and why, had stalled completely. It was a dark and rainy evening, and the reason why Connor was currently driving one of his wealthy roommates cars, to the house part that all three of his roommates had gotten to, was because all three of them had gotten spectacularly drunk, and the host of party was refusing to let them drive or try to stumble on home themselves, and he'd been called to cart their drunk asses home. Connor agreed to come get them, after he'd been told to use one of their cars that they hadn't driven to the party in the first place - as he wasn't going to take a bus, the subway, and then a taxi to one of the furthest edges of town, just to drive them all home in the car that the three of them had used in order to get to the place that they were partying at. As it was a Saturday night, traffic had been appalling on the main streets, but Connor used the back roads and alternate that he'd been taught how to use in order to get anywhere in the city, once he'd come to New York City - as it was crucial to be able to get where one needed to be as fast as possible using a variety of means. There were also well maintained tunnels, used by both the Brotherhood and the Order that wouldn't be found on any civilian or even military maps of the city, as they'd been created by the Brotherhood before America had even become a country, in some of the oldest parts of the city.

Which was how Connor found himself at a raging party in one of the wealthiest districts of the city. He half-expected the roads to be paved with gold, and the mansions that he passed by were dripping with an opulent wealth that was gag-inducing. He rolled up to the manse that the party was happening at - he could hear the music blasting at ear-splitting volumes over a mile down the road, and was glad that he had packed both noise-cancelling headphones and high grade ear plugs, as he needed both in order to get any closer to the party. It spoke to the wealth of whoever owned the mansion that the cops hadn't been called out for the noise of the party, as he could feel the vibrations of the music in  his very bones.

Half-passed two in the morning was ridiculously late, and Connor had been very tempted to just let them sleep it off where they were currently partying at... But there had been something almost... Genuinely frightened in the way that one of his roommates had asked to be picked up that had tugged on Connor's heartstrings, which had prompted him to go driving so far on a Saturday night - especially since today had been a training day at the Bureau, and he was starting to feel sore from the brutal training regime that Chevalier put all of them through, supposedly to keep their fitness levels up. Connor parked close to the front of the gates of the opulent manor, and he texted all three of his roommates that he was there before he walked down the long driveway up to the overwrought and entirely too large mansion, not surprised that there wasn't anyone milling around out front, as it was very cold and still raining.

The front door was open a bit, and light spilled from the crack, which was why Connor felt no guilt whatsoever in pushing the door open all the way and stepping inside. He frowned a little, as he checked his phone, as none of his roommates had responded to his text - not even a short text or just an emoji to let him know that they had gotten his message. The music continued to pound through his bones, and Connor frowned as he noticed that the party-goers he was coming across were either completely unconscious, or just barely stirring as he past by them. A worried frown appeared on the young man's face as he found where his three roommates were sitting, passed out and pressed against one another - as he wasn't sure that they were close enough to one another for that much physical contact. He checked their vitals, frowning a little when he noticed how slowly their hearts were beating. There were three glasses of something in front of his roommates - and a cautious sniff at each of them revealed a subtly acrid smell that shouldn't be present in alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.

The young man knew that he needed to call this in - which was why he was already digging out his phone, and texted Chevalier - as he would have to leave the manor in order to be heard over the incredibly loudly blasting music. He could hear voices mixed in with the music - as if a raucous party was going on... His heart sank a little as he realized that it was likely set up that way, in order to make it seem as if a party was going on, while in reality, someone had drugged the drinks - and possibly the food - as he'd spotted a couple of large bowls of dip mix, and giving them a quick sniff, revealed a scent that shouldn't be there as well. He quickly texted Mentor Chevalier the information that he had on this situation, including where he was and why he wasn't calling in, waiting anxiously as he checked over other people who had been lured to what was supposed to be a high end party. The young man made sure to pull off his noise-cancelling headphones and earplugs as he continued to run - he needed to be able to hear as much as he could, and since the music was off, he wouldn't be utterly deafened.

As the minutes continued to stretch on, Connor checked and double checked that the message had sent - and his phone showed that it had been delivered. He gave more updates on the number of people who had likely been drugged unconscious, what their breathing patterns and slow heartbeats were and that all of them were quite likely in a lot of danger. Part of the young man wanted to switch off the horribly loud music - but that might alert whoever had done this, that someone had come in and was probably going to mess up their plans. The young man noticed something a little odd - there were a certain kind of primrose flowers in a vase, on the main buffet table - and they'd been dyed a dark purple color. It took the young man searching what sort of flowers they were, and his frown became more pronounced as he realized that they were pimpernels. Chevalier still hadn't responded - even though Connor had made sure to mark it as extremely urgent - which was why the young man decided to text Detective Cormac - besides the other was a mentor as well. Then again, it was two in the morning, and it was very likely that both of them were asleep... Which was why, after Connor waited five agonizing minutes after he'd texted Cormac for help, the young man decided to turn off the music and called 911.

Or at least, that was the plan. As soon as he turned the music off, all hell broke loose - dozens of small, insect-like robots that Connor recognized from the attack about a month ago started crawling out of the vents, heading straight for him. The young hero cursed under his breath and pulled a broom out of the coat closet he was next to and started smashing the little bastards - these were much smaller than the robots he'd dealt with before - but there seemed to be an infinite number of the little bastards - for every one he smashed, a dozen more were hissing and scuttling towards him. Connor continue to smash and destroy the tiny little bastards for over an hour, panting a little, when the last of the robots were destroyed. He had almost caught his breath, when he heard gargled screaming - and rushed towards the source, his heart sinking into his shoes, as he realized that the swarms of tiny robots had been a distraction. The passed out partygoers were all covered in the large insect-like robots, their movements lurching towards him, even as they stared at him with vacant, glazed eyes. In these close quarters, he was at a distinct disadvantage - especially as there were far more of them than there were of him, and he didn't want to hurt them... Particularly since they were being controlled against their will.

The young man knew that he needed a choke point - so that he wouldn't be facing all eighty or so  pseudo-cyborgs at once, as he knew that he would lose against such numbers all by himself. Which was why he sprinted out of the door of the large, spacious living room, intending on heading towards the front door, closing the doors behind him as he fled, trying to come up with some sort of plan. His phone was still in his hand, and he quickly called 911 - if he  was able to defeat all of the pseudo-cyborgs, they would still need to be tended to afterwards.

"Hello, this is emergency services, what problems are you having?" The operator on the other end of the line asked, voice calm and professional.

He probably should have called one of his teammates first, so that they could give the pertinent information, so that he wouldn't have answer the operator's questions while fighting pseudo-cyborgs one-handed. But it was still very, very early and he didn't want to drag them into trouble if he didn't absolutely have to "I'm at sixteen-forty-five Alder street, in Manhatten. You know those robots that attacked the street like a month ago? They came out of the vents in the place. There was a party and I was called to come pick up my roommates. I found them and everyone else who was at the party who I could find unconscious - the dip and the drinks that people were having smell... Off. The insect-like robots have attached themselves to the party goers and are trying to attack me - help!"

"I... A-Alright, what's your name, young man? Can you get to a safe place? Do you know about how many people have been taken over by the robots?" The operator responded, sounding slightly startled "Police and at least one hero are being sent to that location."

"At least eighty people, probably less than a hundred. They're charging after me - probably because I'm the only person who hasn't been taken over by the skittery little assholes." he ducked and cursed as several larger insect-like robots came out of nowhere, trying to attach themselves to his leg. He was glad that in his mad-dash out of the large room, that he'd also kept hold of the broom, as he was able to smash through the cores of the robots with the wooden handle of the broom, hearing them screech metalically, and dodging sparks "I don't know why my name really matters right now, as there are more of the damned robots coming - the larger ones that take people over once there are enough of them on a person."

"Thank you for the information - and it is important to have your name, as I need to fill out the form as completely as possible." The operator responded, continuing after a moment "But if you are in immediate danger, I would recommend staying on the line, so that I might be able to help you."

Connor tried really hard not to roll his eyes, as he smashed another robot, glad that the insistence on being armed at all times had long since become habit with him, as though the broom was helpful in fending off some of the robots, as one of them latched onto the arm that had his cellphone - which was starting to flicker and whine, losing charge at a shocking rate, he was able to stab through the carapace of the insect-like robot with ease, destroying it easily "I'm... Aquila. And these things are draining the battery on my phone. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to contact you - as last time the robots or whoever's behind them had something to keep communication lines down last time."

"You... up.... Repeat... again?" Was the only thing that Connor was able to understand, though the crackling static. His phone was useless to him now, which was why the young man ended the call and tucked his phone back in the secured pocket that he usually kept it in, smashing more of the larger insect-like robots, as they were rushing in towards her in much greater numbers, and he could hear the pseudo-cyborgs starting to smash through the doors.

After Connor managed to smash the last of the insect-like robots, he decided to retreat to his car, changing into his heroic uniform - as in addition to having the mask obscure his face, the lightweight fabric was also fire, electricity, acid, water and extreme temperature resistant armor. It deflected most kinds of small-caliber bullets and some kinds of shrapnel as well, although the bruises were still hell to deal with until they healed. Connor also pulled a taser out of his bag, as well as a gun with an extended magazine, filled with rubber bullets - which would slow down, and if Connor was lucky, damage the robots attached to the drugged civilians enough to keep them from moving, as well as an electrified stun baton that should fry the robots' circuits without causing too much harm to the captive civilians who were still trapped. After a moment's hesitation, he also grabbed the tomahawk that he'd recently been given. The metal in the blade was specifically designed to be hard enough to easily pierce through the metal that the robots were made out of - and the cutting edge of the blades was sharp enough to easily cut through the metal without dulling easily. Connor wished that he had also brought the bow and quiver full of arrows that had some sort of electric or magnetic field that was supposed to drain the batteries of the robots attached to the pseudo-cyborgs, but the young man hadn't known that he was going to be going up against these bastards tonight, and hadn't thought to bring it on what was supposed to be a trip to collect his drunk roommates.

That was what the training today had been about - as the robot swarms had happened in dozens of cities in several countries - although the reports of how widespread the damage that the robots and controlled pseudo-cyborgs had been done was being underplayed in the media. Whether that was due to the interference of the Brotherhood, the Order, the governments of the affected countries... Or even who was behind these robotic attacks, Connor couldn't guess, and quite frankly, didn't care less to know, as it wasn't pertinent information at the moment. The young man rushed towards the front door - as some of the robot-controlled civilians were starting to lurch their way out of it, and the young man knew that he needed to focus on containing them as much as he could, until backup arrived.

Connor launched himself at the nearest of the robotically controlled civilians, landing heavily on them, and smirking a little as the both of them went down - having meant to do that, in order to damage the robots attached to the drugged civilian's back. The young hero cut and sliced through the power cores of the robots, until the still-unconscious person stopped being moved by the robots. The young man dragged the person off to one side, sitting them on a bench and leaning the person against the wall, so that they would be less likely to fall off, before activating the electric part of the stun baton and smashing it into the center robot attached to the next pseudo-cyborg, letting out a silent sigh of relief as the rest of the robots went completely inert. He still cut through the power cores of several others, just in case as he put the second person in a place where they hopefully wouldn't be stepped on while he fought the rest of them.

Three more came in quick succession, and Connor used his stun batons in order to disable them while dodging clumsy punches and awkward kicks. Once they were down, half a dozen pseudo-cyborgs fell upon him all at once, and two of them managed to trap his legs, and he struggled to get free as he rolled from side to side to avoid the punches of the other four. Murmuring a quiet apology, the young man used his strength to launch the two pseudo cyborgs off of him, and they flew several feet in the air, landing with a horrific-sounding crunch of metal on the stone of the walkway. Connor didn't want to use the Tomahawk just yet, as the young man was worried that the sharp, electrified metal might cause more harm than good - and after more struggling than the young man was expecting, he was able to disable the four pseudo-cyborgs - and the two that he'd kicked off before were crawling towards him as more came rushing out of the front door. Connor rushed towards the two that were crawling towards him, hitting what appeared to be the main robot in control of the others - one was on the chest, as the others previously had been placed, but the other was situated on the pseudo-cyborg's left hip.

Connor continued to fight the robot-controlled and unconscious civilians, checking as he continued to fight that some of them weren't leaving through one of the other exits, to try to do something else - whether it was to force the civilians to commit crimes, or to walk them to a place where they could be used against their wealthy and powerful families. The young man continued to dodge and strike, to jump and weave around the increasingly more effective attacks of the robot-controlled and still unconscious civilians. He continued to fight, despite the increasing exhaustion running through him - and the fact that he'd defeated dozens of the partygoers encased in robots. He felt as though he'd been fighting for hours - where the hell was the backup he'd been promised from the 911 operator? More of the controlled-civilians' hits were landing, and though he wasn't injured more than bruises or shallow cuts, they were starting to hurt, and the adrenaline he was running on in order to continue to fight these people was running low. His breath was ragged and though he hated himself for doing so, the young man switched into his eagle form and glided to a nearby tree, needing to take a rest - besides, he had defeated the last group of pseudo-cyborgs. The young man counted the number of party-goers whom he'd disabled the robots on them enough to get them to stop moving - counting roughly forty-five of them. He was maybe half way through their numbers - and a dozen of robot-covered partygoers staggered out of the front door, pushing and shoving one another in an attempt to get out.

The young man mentally groaned as he glided over to where the first three of them were, transforming back into his human form and deliberately landing heavily on them, a stun  baton in one hand, the other arched so that his hidden blade could cut through the power cores in the other - one of the stun batons he'd been using lost power on the last wave of enemies, and this one was running low as well. He didn't have time between waves to go back to his car and change the batteries without potentially getting mobbed by a bunch of robot-controlled civilians up against his car - which would also be possibly seen by nosy neighbors. Then again, it was maybe five am on a fall Sunday, and the likelihood of anyone else being up was... Unlikely.

But if anyone else was awake, they might either try to intervene in some way, or catch the attention of the robots controlling the unconscious civilians - and some of them might switch objectives from taking him down to going after other civilians, for whatever reason.

The three he landed on went down easily enough - but the other nine were on him as soon as he pushed the third off of his blade, some of them trying to restrain his limbs, while others punched and kicked - and while Connor had been able to dodge most of them something heavy suddenly landed on his back as he tried to roll away from them, about to stand up. It knocked the breath out of the young hero, and as he tried to struggle free, he felt something grab the back of his neck, as metal arms wrapped around his arms and legs - even as Connor kicked and fought to get away from whatever was currently holding onto him. Whatever it was threw him into the air, and though he tried to avoid getting grabbed by the pseudo-cyborgs, whatever was wrapped around his arms and legs was strong enough to resist his strength - as he couldn't move hardly at all.

A speaker popped up, out of one of the robots attached to the side of the face of one of the pseudo-cyborgs that had caught him, and a mocking voice floated up from it, sounding as though someone was putting it through and auto-tuner and a voice changer, to hide what they actually sounded like "Brave little Hero - trying to save these poor idiots from me. But why help them? Do you realize what their families have done in order to gain the wealth that they possess? They need to be punished for the sins that their families have committed, as they have lived their whole lives with silver spoons in their mouths, uncaring and oblivious to the blood stains. I could use someone who fights as well as you do. If you agree to work for me, I will let you go. If you refuse... Well, I'm sure my precious darlings will be able to break through the fabric of your armor, sooner or later. No one is coming to help you."

"Why should they be punished for something that they didn't do, and probably don't have any knowledge of?" Connor growled back, as he continued to struggle against the grip of whatever was holding him. "Besides, why the fuck would I work for some coward who builds fragile gadgets to do their dirty work?"

"Oooh,  you are a feisty one! I wonder if you're trying to insult me to get me to tell you who I am, or if you're really just that stubborn. You're so cute when you're righteously angry, and I admire your fighting form... Surely it must be exhausting, to keep so much strength under such a rigid control all the time... Work for me, and you'll be able to wreak as much havoc as you please." The voice responded, in what was obviously an attempt to sound seductive, but in Connor's opinion, just came off as horribly patronizing and kind of creepy.

A burst of inspiration hit Connor, and the young man stopped struggling in the grasp of whatever had him, going limp. It didn't react instantly by tightening it's hold on him, which was why the young man shifted into his eagle form a second time, flying out of the grasp of whatever it was that was holding him - which turned out to be two pseudo cyborgs, which fell backwards at the change in weight. He changed back into his human form after he landed in a tree, pulling the gun with the rubber bullets out, having not wanted to pull this weapon out either... Especially since had over forty more forced-attackers to fight off. He started shooting at them, glad that the rubber was hard enough to damage the robots - and the young man used his second sight to aim where it caused the most damage to the robots... But it took four bullets per pseudo-cyborg, and all nine of the last batch of pseudo-cyborgs was down, he was a little under half-way through the clip. "Yeah, I don't know if you can hear me, now that your robots are on the fritz, but I don't give a shit about whatever crap you think you can offer me. This isn't right."

He didn't get a response, so Connor guessed that the villain behind this either couldn't tell him, or wasn't going to grace him with a response. The young man wondered if the villain could communicate through the robots in the previous attacks, or if that was something that whoever they were had changed. These robots were certainly learning a lot faster how to fight in a humanoid form much faster than the last batch - and the young man hoped that the villain had been lying when he said that no one was coming to help him, as though, what felt like hours later, but had to be less than that, as it was still not even dawn, he had defeated the last of the partygoers... At least, there were over eight unconscious people covered in broken robots, before Connor could even begin to catch his breath from the last wave of pseudo-cyborgs, a huge wave of insect-like robots came crawling from the manor, in a tidal flood of pure and unadulterated suck.

If he had any long range weapons, the young man would have scrambled up the nearest tree and started using them... But Connor had ran out of bullets on the last wave of civilian pseudo-cyborgs. Tomahawk in one hand, one of his hidden blades extended from the other, the young hero squared his shoulders and rushed towards the onslaught of robots, a grim frown appearing on his face as he slashed and hacked, jumped and landed, crushing the bots beneath his feet - he knew that he needed to keep constantly moving - otherwise the robots would find a way to attach themselves to him, which would slow him down, and there was a little bit of skin between the hem of the neck of his suit and the mask that the robots could use to inject whatever turned the civilians in the previous attacks from rational people into frothing, rage-beings that were solely focused on the destruction of everything and anything in their path.

Cut, slice, crunch, dodge to the left, roll away to avoid an aerial attack. Slam into one of the partially constructed larger robots and smash it to pieces before it turned into one of the full-sized larger bots and became way more of a problem. Over and over again until Connor was trembling with exhaustion and starting to stumble over his own feet, just barely able to catch himself from falling to the ground, tripping over the robot-strewn grounds, as he searched for the next group of hissing, shining insect-like robots to slice apart. The young man thought he heard something - was it a voice? But he could barely concentrate on staying upright, as he searched for the next enemy - and sure enough, more damned robots were starting to crawl out of the manor, when a hand landed on one of Connor’s shoulders, causing the young man to yelp in surprise as he twisted away from the touch, as he swung the still razor-sharp tomahawk at whoever or whatever had touched him, eyes widening in surprise as he started to register who it was who had reached out to him.

 


	10. Chapter 10

The person who grabbed Connor's arm was The Silver Wolf. To avoid actually stabbing the other, the young man let the arm that held the tomahawk drop down to his side, jerking away from the other just in case. "S-sorry for almost stabbing you, Silver Wolf. I... I hadn't meant to nearly attack you like that."

"It's alright - I did try calling out to you before I touched you, but it seems as if you weren't able to hear me. A force field has been set up around the outskirts of this property - you and I and others will be able to come and go as we please, but it should stop the robots from leaving the property. You've fought well, especially since you've been by yourself for far too long, young hero. If you did give me your name the last time that we met, I am sorry to say that I don't remember it." The Silver Wolf responded as he threw a handheld device at the swarming robots, and a bunch of the robots exploded, though the force of the blast wasn't enough to send sharpened robot bits more than a couple of feet in any direction - entirely avoiding damaging either of them, or the still unconscious party-goers.

"Call me Aquila... and I did hear noise behind me... I just... I didn't process that it was someone talking to me until... Until you came up behind me. I've been fighting against these things since about two thirty or three am." Connor responded quietly, taking in more of their surroundings as he tried to fight off a wave of exhaustion. The insect-like robots were still skittering towards them, but the Silver Wolf kept throwing more of the small explosive devices, which were much more effective at thinning their numbers than his blades.

"I was given information about this less than an hour ago, and it's nearly six in the morning. Were you able to call someone for help, or was the communications barrier up by then?" His professor asked, a concerned frown appearing on his face.

"I called for help as soon as I arrived at the party. I was... I was unable to reach my direct superiors and had to contact 911. I know that I was able to inform someone who said they were a 911 operator shortly after I found out that everyone who had been going to the party - or at least everyone who was currently in the manor at the time - was unconscious. I gave them the address of this place and they said that someone would be coming to help - both police and a  hero." Connor responded, a worried frown appearing on his face. He told the other about his brief interaction with someone who could speak through a previously unknown to him speaker, taunting him that he wouldn't be getting any help, and finished with a curious "Who told you about the... The fighting?"

"No one said anything about a robot attack, actually. Someone reported that there had been a party last night, and that there was an excess number of cars blocking the road - and that they thought they had seen a rough looking character who was heavily armed in the area not to long ago... I'm guessing that the armed ruffian was you?" Silver Wolf responded, sounding vaguely unsettled.

"It might have been - the last time I went to where I'd stashed my weapons, it was just after all hell had broken loose, which was at around two-three in the morning." Connor answered, just barely managing to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the slightly hysterical words that the neighbor had given.

The older hero nodded in understanding, looking him over and frowning a little "The police officer who accompanied me here should be arriving soon enough - you look dead on your feet. Let me take you somewhere a safer, so that you can rest."

Part of the young man knew that he should probably refuse - tell the other that he knew places where he could rest and that he could get there himself... But The Silver Wolf had wrapped a steadying (and warm) arm around his waist, and Connor was fighting to keep his eyes open at this point "I... But... What about the... the robots? They should be on us any minute..."

"Most of them are completely disabled - and there are only a few of them that can twitch - see?" Silver Wolf pointed out, voice gentle as he pointed towards the sea of dark metal, which occasionally twitched and sparked. "You've fought valiantly, and I think that's the last of the robots that were set to attack from this location. There are several ambulances inbound, to help the civilians who've been affected in this attack."

Connor nodded, believing that the older hero was telling the truth - despite the fact that the other was a member of the Order, there was no reason do doubt that he wasn't telling the truth. The young man blinked a little as he realized that the world around them was getting brighter "Ah... It's dawn." It had been a dark, starless night, but the clouds seemed to have broken up overnight, giving way to a bright, sunny dawn. One that the young hero hadn't entirely been sure that he'd be able to see through - at least not without becoming one of the pseudo-cyborgs and have to be attacked and defeated in order to get the damned robots off of him.

"It is... It's a beautiful morning. Since this is the second time in less than two months that we've run into one another, and from what I've been able to gather, this robot problem isn't going to be going away anytime soon..." The Silver Wolf began, pulling out a small card and handing it over to him "If you are in need of help, please call that number, as it seems as though someone is definitely trying to keep you from getting aid in a timely manner. Not that I am questioning that you aren't a capable hero... But I can tell that you are quite exhausted at the moment, and it is better to know for certain that someone is coming to help - particularly when facing something like these robots... Which try to attach to any living being they can find, in order to control and attack things around them."

The young man nodded as he took the other's card, responding with a quiet "I will try to contact you, if something big comes up - although if it's a minor problem, I won't bother you. I know that you're a very busy hero - though from what I hear, you're kind of retired from the active heroing thing - getting punched and punching robots, or chasing villains on main street, sort of thing..."

"That is true - although I do find myself helping people more often than not, even though I'm not as swift as I used to be. I won't stand idly by while others suffer, if I have the ability to help them." The older hero responded quietly "Then again... The police may have told me about an hour ago about the fact that there was an armed person prowling the streets, though they may have gotten the information much sooner, as I've been running from one end of the city to the other all night. The Firestarter was being moved through the city, in an armed vehicle, and several of their old friends showed up and attacked the van, trying to break them free. They needed backup and I was the one on night-duty and went. Unfortunately, by the time that I got there, they had managed to get Firestarter out of their restraints and all six of them scattered over the city, causing chaos and mayhem. I was unable to contact anyone back at the New York Headquarters, at the time I thought that it was because of a bad phone connection... But with the reappearance of these robots... I think that there was more going on than that. I was able to aid the police in capturing all of them before they could cause too much destruction, but it took me until a little over an hour ago to track them down and capture them."

"Fire... Firestarter was in the city?" Connor responded, suddenly wide awake and furious. There was no way that Mentor Chevalier at least hadn't known that that miserable, wretched bastard wasn't going to be shuffled through the city. "There was no one... Else around, to try to help contain them, as there definitely should have been. I mean... The police do what they can, but I know that the people I work for definitely wouldn't that miserable bastard free to cause more pain and death than they already have." Then again... There had been something a little bit off about their training - and Chevalier had asked for several of the other novice heroes to stay behind - but he hadn't been one of them.

"Ah... So you are with the Brotherhood. I did suspect that you were given your uniform, but I didn't want to assume and be incorrect. There were a couple on your side who were there - but they had been badly injured in the initial fight. They tagged Firestarter and two others with tracking devices in the initial fight, which had helped me find them much faster than it would have otherwise." Silver Wolf responded, asking after a moment, sounding concerned "Is there a particular reason why you were upset to not have been assigned to help guard Firestarter?"

"I... It's probably for the best, because I hate Firestarter. They... I was one of the few survivors of the Evergreen apartment fire, about sixteen years ago. I lost... I lost all of the f-family I knew, and most of my friends..." Connor responded, struggling not to return to that horrible night - where the choking smoke burned his eyes and made even thinking difficult - the searing heat of the fire as he struggled to get a burning piece of ceiling off of his mom's legs, not listening as she begged him to flee, to leave her. "And... And to hear that they... That that miserable piece of shit hurt some of my fellow heroes... And that they were free - if even for a few hours is... Really upsetting."

"I... I can see why that would upset you, although... Perhaps the reason why you weren't assigned to that particular guarding mission was because of your personal history with that villain. I know that it's fairly common to reassign heroes to other areas, when such a villain is in the city like that, or even if they are free... At least that's true with the organization that I'm apart of." The Silver Wolf responded, lightly patting Connor on one shoulder and looking understanding "But I do think that your superiors should have told you that they were going to be in the city, so that you wouldn't get a nasty surprise when finding about anything that Firestarter may have done later."

Connor shrugged a little "I think that part of that depends on the leader of the area... And the boss that we've had for the past few years is... Well he's kind of a giant asshole, and doesn't take anything like that into account, when he assigns things to people, and he also likes to play thing close to his chest - as if we're all secretly out to get him or something. Just because we all think he's a pompous asshole who has a massive tree stuck up his -...." The young man abruptly stopped speaking, realizing that he was complaining about his superior in front of a member of the Order - which was against the rules. They were supposed to present a united front when interacting with those of the Order, even if they couldn't stand one another normally. It wasn't a Big Rule, but it was something that they were supposed to be careful about "... Err... Don't mind me. I didn't really mean to say stuff like that - it's just he can be a bit... Strict compared to most of the other mentors, and I'm tired and grumpy."

The Silver Wolf hummed a little, a small half-smile appearing on his face as he responded "If you say so, Aquila. I know how exhaustion can sharpen one's tongue more than they mean for it to, when they are fully rested."

Connor tried and failed not to fidget with his hands a little, rubbing the back of one of his hands with the palm of his other and glancing away from the older hero - fairly sure that the other was teasing him a little. "I... I should probably go. Before the police arrive, I mean. We're not really supposed to talk to the police - and besides, I think I hear a couple of reporters trying to nose their way into finding out why there is a bunch of cop cars in one of the best neighborhoods in all of NYC."

The Silver Wolf watched his movements, humming a little, before he nodded, answering with a quiet "Did you give me a full account of what happened from the time you arrived until the time that I got here? I do understand that your group is much more secretive than mine - and for reasons that I do understand. We wouldn't want the civilians fearing that one of us is a group of organized villains, and avoiding the scrutiny that the Order is put under allows the Brotherhood to deal with threats and potential threats in very different ways, without causing scandals and public unrest."

Connor mentally ran through everything he told the older hero and nodded "Yeah, that's everything that happened, as far as I remember. If I absolutely have to, there is a detective I know is safe to approach about these sorts of topics. Also... There were a couple of vases of pimpernel flowers, dyed a dark purple color - the same color as what's stamped on the inside of the robots, and I'm pretty sure that either the drinks, the dip or both at the party were drugged, which is what knocked all of the civilians unconscious. Not that I was able to do anything more than a snuff check. Also if a battered broom is found somewhere on the property... I used that to bash some of the robots before I could get to my weapons."

The older hero nodded, and Connor started to stand up, a soft sound of surprise leaving him as the world spun horribly around him and he nearly fell over. The Silver Wolf was suddenly holding him tightly, and murmuring quietly "The police won't allow the reporters to come onto the property, even after it's clear, without the consent of the people or person who owns this place. You really should sit and rest - and I will be checking you over for injuries." The other responded as he firmly guided the younger man to sit back down on the bench. The Silver Wolf pulled out a flask and a sealed bag of what looked like trail mix, pressing both into his hands "Drink this - it's not just water, but rather a mix of water and electrolytes and the trail mix. I'm quite certain that you need something to eat, and this is what I have on hand. I will go up and speak with the police - and the reporters from there, where they won't be able to see you. And I would be... Rather disappointed if you tried to sneak off while I was away - particularly as I am guessing that you don't have much of a way to get out of here, besides on foot, as the car that you may have used is likely through the field of police and reporters, yes?"

"I... Yeah... I won't sneak off, I promise." The younger hero responded earnestly. It wasn't as if he could go very far without possibly being seen  by a reporter or a member of the police - especially since Connor would rather not leave the car that he'd borrowed at the fancy neighborhood. It would probably be best if he waited until things got a little bit less crazy and then slunk away. Connor was also very much aware of the fact that he wasn't in any fit state to drive. He watched as the Silver Wolf got up and went to the police - smiling a little and closing his eyes as he nibbled on the trail mix, and doing his best not to drink the liquid or eat the trail mix too quickly, as he was suddenly very keenly aware of just how hungry he was. Fighting for hours on end did that to a person, and Connor was grateful that the older hero was willing to share some food.

It was nice hearing the Silver Wolf speak - as the young man could hear the other speak - his words floating over to him on the breeze, glad that he had extra-sharp senses, as it meant he could hear what the other was saying - and marveled a little at how easily the older hero was able to handle interacting with civilians in an official capacity like that. Not that it was likely that he would ever be one of the handful or so of public Brotherhood heroes - unless they found out about his healing ability - which the young man hoped that they didn't, as even though most of his Abilities skewed towards a general purpose hero, the healing ability was... Rare, and Connor knew that it was unlikely that they would let him outside of a base unless they absolutely had to - from what he'd seen of other healers... Then again, from what Connor had noticed, most healers tended to have healing as their only major ability, and it had been known since they were young that they had a Healing ability, and thus, they weren't trained as extensively in combat and stealth that most other kinds of heroes and agents were given by the Brotherhood.

The morning light was beautiful, and the sunrise was gorgeous - but the young man couldn't seem to bring himself to open his eyes again, as Connor yawned again, deciding to stretch out on the bench, after he finished the flask of water and electrolytes and the bag of trail mix. He was exhausted, and though the young man wasn't concentrating enough to hear what the Silver Wolf was saying specifically, the other's confident and calm tones were helping to lull the young hero to sleep - part of him knew that he probably shouldn't fall asleep on a bench - but he'd been up for over twenty-four hours, most of it spent doing intensely physical activities. He just hoped that he wouldn't be too sore to move when he woke up. It was a bit chilly to curl up on a bench, and the slight breeze caused the young man to shiver, but after he curled in on himself a bit more, a small smile appeared on his face as he felt a bit warmer.

Connor rolled onto his belly- as leaning on one of his sides was causing the side that his weight was being pressed against to ache. Just a quick nap, and then the young man would try to duck away from where the police would be conducting the initial investigation - maybe he should shift into eagle form? That way it would be less likely for any of the officers to try to speak with him, and that they would be less likely to think that he had anything to do with this mess, positive or negative. Not that he particularly cared what random people thought of him, but it would make things a bit more difficult if the police were looking for him in his uniform... and that would cause problems, as if they got a picture of him, it might get him into trouble for being caught on camera.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Connor woke to two people arguing. He heard his professor warn quietly "-and as I said before, I would not recommend that you wake him up by shaking one of his shoulders, as he might instinctively strike out at you before he is aware that you aren't an enemy."

"And I think that you're being a bit ridiculous. It's clear that whoever this is, they're young and obviously inexperienced. Why else would this... Person fall asleep in a place like this?" An obnoxious and oddly familiar voice argued back "Besides, if he hit me, that would be assaulting an officer, and I would be within my rights to arrest him. He's one of them - and trying to get one of them to talk is trying to get blood from stone unless you corner them."

"And I told you why he was there and what he was doing. You shouldn't treat those who live in shadows as an enemy, Charles. They do quite a bit of good, and you know this." Silver Wolf countered "Cornering one of them often doesn't go well, either. Sometimes I worry that you're trying to provoke them deliberately into lashing out at you."

"That would be completely ridiculous sir. That Arabic brat was being utterly uncooperative with me while I was working as an officer of the law, and I had to use my taser on him in order to make sure that he didn't respond violently." Detective... Oh hell. It was detective Lee.

Connor sat up quickly, opening his eyes and bit the inside of one of cheeks to prevent a hiss of pain from leaving him as his whole body protested very loudly at moving so swiftly "If the two of you were talking about waking me up... I'm awake now. is there something that you require of me, officer?"

"How long have you been eavesdropping in on our conversation, you lying little shit?" Lee hissed, looking obviously surprised that Connor had woken up.

"Charles. There's no call to insult him." Silver Wolf rebuked, sending the other a clearly scolding expression, even through the mask that the other was wearing.

"What? You told me that he claims to have fought off over eighty of these robot-controlled people single handedly, in addition to most of the unattached robots by himself, using nothing more than knives and a hatchet? There are clear signs that there were more than those two weapons used. He's obviously trying to take all of the credit for what was clearly a team job, straggling behind to get the glory." Lee sputtered, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"I did have a gun with rubber bullets, as well as two stun batons. When I ran out of bullets I stopped using the gun - and the stun batons ran out of battery after a while, but both were very useful in helping me stave off a majority of those who were encased in robots. From where would I be getting this credit? I haven't spoken with the reporters and I'm not going to. This victory clearly belongs to the Silver Wolf and the valiant police officers who dealt with a sudden robot attack." Connor responded through clenched teeth, just barely able to stop himself from saying something very rude. There was a good chance that this asshole of a cop was always so prickly to everyone he didn't think was worthy of respect... And Connor knew that he needed to be polite while in uniform - it was one of the rules... And the young man didn't want to break more of the rules of the Brotherhood than he already had in the past month.

Lee arched an eyebrow at him, arms still crossed over his chest as he glowered at him, before responding "And just why would you let us claim a victory that, if you really did fight all by yourself, would have been very difficult? Surely you would want some sort of recognition for it, for all the fact that your group are a bunch of-"

"Charles, do not finish that sentence. I'm not quite sure why you want to provoke the young man, but irritating him isn't going to have him cooperate with you any more than he has." Silver Wolf responded, giving the officer a distinctly disappointed expression.

"I need to take his statement, of what he says happened here." Lee responded, pulling out a folded clipboard, unfolding it and staring at the young man expectantly as he clicked a pen once... Twice... Several more times.

That caused the exhausted young hero to twitch as he gripped the bench beneath him in order to stop himself from launching himself at the obnoxious asshole "I've already given a full report of what happened to the Silver Wolf. I don't know why you're being as obnoxious as humanly possible, but I am exhausted and would like to get some rest now. If I do need to make a statement to the police, in addition to have given a truthful report to one of the most powerful telepaths in recorded history, and he believes that I am telling the truth, I don't see why it isn't good enough for you. Unless of course you're trying to get me to attack you... Then you could claim that I was assaulting an officer and arrest me... I wonder why you'd want to do that."

Lee glowered at him, about to say something - probably horrible and irritating - when officer Cormac came over, frowning at the other. "Lee, Simms and Todd need your help with moving several of the unconscious people. They need your advice on how to properly move them, as the robots attached to them still twitch occasionally, and they're worried that the person might leap up and suddenly start attacking them."

Lee nodded, rolling his eyes "Rookies are always so squeamish when it comes to such things. I do hope that in your effort to contain these people that you didn't accidentally kill any of them, as you'd be partially culpable for their deaths. Most of it would fall onto whoever was controlling the robots, but as you would have been the one to land the fatal blow, you would also be punished for it."

The young man recoiled at the other's words, and his hands were gripping the wooden bench beneath him so rightly that it cracked audibly "Every single one of the people who were taken over by robots who I was fighting are in stable condition right now. I never hit any of them in a place that could be fatal with enough force to do so. If there are any cuts or anything like that on them, it is due to what the robots did to them, or injuries they had coming into the party, and not because of anything I did to keep them from injuring themselves or other people or property, officer. I have done nothing to you to warrant the bile that you are spewing at me, but I suppose that isn't a factor into your... Response."

Lee stalked off, glowering at him until he had to look into a different direction. Cormac sighed and shook his head a little "Sorry about him. He's usually less of an asshole and I'm not going to try to make excuses like he's been awake all night, as I can tell that you've been up for just as long. I would have responded to your text, if I didn't have my hands full of Firestarter and their band of villains for most of the night. I tried texting you back, but it didn't go through."

"Oh... I just figured it was because I texted you for help at like... Two thirty in the morning on a Saturday." Connor responded quietly. The Silver Wolf had sat down next to him and it was taking a surprising amount of self-control not to lean into the other. He was exhausted and the young man imagined that the other would be warm - the other's steadying hand around his waist as the other had pretty much carried him over earlier had been nice.

"Aquila... Before you head off to sleep, is there anything else that you'd like to tell me, beyond what you gave to Silver Wolf in your report?" Cormac asked, catching Connor's attention when the other moved so that he was in the middle of his line of sight.

".... No? I told him everything that happened... Including trying to talk to a... a 911 operator. I called 911 and the person on the other end said that they were an operator... Maybe they thought it was a prank of some kind? I wasn't able to talk to them for very long, and the line was breaking up. So... So many of those skittery and horrible little robots everywhere. And that whoever's behind this - or at least someone who had access to what was a speaker an' a microphone, as they responded to me when I talked to them... They talked to me, while they had the robot-controlled people attack me."

"What did they talk to you about?" Shay asked curiously.

"They wanted me to join them - or at least to stop fighting the robots. Mocked me about not being able to overtake the odds, and that I wouldn't be getting any backup. They had a... voice modulating thingy - maybe more than one." The young hero answered honestly, mentally going through the long night and what he'd told the other "... 's not like I was trying to hide anything from him... Allied people and all of that."

"Alright. Well, you can rest in the squad car I drove up here. It's not going to be terribly comfortable, but it's better than sleeping on a bench, especially since we're going to be here for a while cataloging everything. Did you touch anything with your bare hands?" Shay responded, adding the last question almost as an afterthought.

"No. I always wear gloves, even when not in uniform, and it was cold last night, so I wore my driving gloves an' didn't take them off." Connor responded "And sleeping in a car sounds better than not-sleeping or dealing with that ass, Lee again. I can tell that he'd probably come try to provoke me again. Why's he want to arrest me? It's not like I did anything to him... But assholes are assholes, especially when they have power, like he does. He's the sort of Order member we're warned about."

"Hey now, settle down, lad. I know he's made a bad first impression on you, but there's no call to say stuff like that, especially when he might be able to hear you." Shay responded.

Connor resisted the temptation to make a face at the older member of the Brotherhood - as Cormac was a mentor, and making faces at your mentors was a good way to get stuck on cleaning duty for the next six months. "Fine. But I won't apologize for speaking my mind about him 'cause he is an ass."

The Silver Wolf chuckled softly, causing Connor to blush darkly. It was a warm, rich sound and one that the young man could listen to for hours... Then again, he really liked the sound of the other's voice too, and could listen to the other's voice for hours as well. "Charles does have an abrasive personality, and I can tell that you are quite sleep deprived, as you seem like someone who tends not to curse, at least not in uniform."

"Shit. Wait. Crap. Ugh. Yeah, we're not supposed to curse in public in uniform - even though most of us don't interact with the public or even the police much. It's for... Some reason. But I don't remember what it was right now and I know that I'm supposed to care but I... Really, really don't. My filter broke at about... Four thirty after my second stun baton went down. I... I didn't kill anyone, d-did I? I mean... I tried really hard not to hurt the c-civilian at all and I... There are w-ways to reverse very recent death like that and I... I really tried hard not to hurt them." Connor responded, suddenly realizing one of the things that Lee had mocked him about and horrified at the thought that he had failed to not kill anyone, and feeling sick to his stomach.

"All of them are unconscious, but that wasn't by your hand. They are stable and being loaded up into ambulances in order to be properly taken care of." Silver Wolf soothed, placing a hand on one of Connor's shoulders.

A wave of calm washed through the younger hero, and he nodded, leaning into the other's touch and letting out a sigh of relief "Ah... Okay. So he was just saying that to be a giant... Jerk." Part of Connor wanted to ask why Lee would say such an awful thing, if he hadn't accidentally injured one of them - but some people were just that much of a jackass. "I was helping - making sure that they weren't forced to commit crimes while unconscious, or kidnapped by whoever had the robots attach to them..."

"Both Shay and I are aware of this, and I do not know why Lee is being so rude to you, Aquila. But it's not something that you should be concerned with, as he is often this way - particularly with those who tend to stick towards the shadows. He's been talked to about trying to provoke our shyer allies, but hasn't yet seemed to understand why." Silver Wolf responded, shaking his head a little.

Connor stood up - and immediately sat back down as the world around him spun unpleasantly. "I... I think I need a bit more to eat - and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it all the way to wherever Cormac's vehicle is parked as I'm... Not doing all that well apparently."

The Silver Wolf looked him over carefully, and asked "Were you nicked by one of the robots, anywhere?"

"I... I don't think so. I'd been fighting them for hours, and a couple of times, the robots were able to attach to one of my legs or an arm... But I don't think they ever pierced through my armor, and I was always sure to dodge any that were aimed for my head or neck. I have a high metabolism, and I didn't eat as much as I probably should have yesterday, as we... It was a training day, and the leader of the bureau is very strict and pushes us pretty hard on training days. He's really antsy because of the robot attacks." Connor responded, irritated that he couldn't move too well.

Cormac searched through his pockets, and shook his head ruefully "I'm sorry lad, I don't have any snacks on me right now."

"I don't have any more food with me either. Is the car you used to get here close by? If you have food there, I'd be happy to get it for you, if you'll give me the keys." Silver Wolf offered. "There is also a cafe near here that should be open at this time in the morning."

Part of the young hero knew that he shouldn't be leaning on the Order member's help - but there was only so much he could do, and Cormac had to stay with the rest of the police persons investigating the scene of the robot attack... "I... It's not my car that I used to get here - although I was given permission to use the car." If he was alone with Cormac, he'd tell the other that he had been asked to pick up his roommates by one of them, before they passed out from whatever had knocked them out. Connor had been taught how to hot wire a car, as per standard Brotherhood training (in addition to dozens of other skills - from basic first aid, to how to forge documents and move undetected in a number of environments) but the young man hadn't actually hot wired a car in order to help others on a sanctioned mission - which would be the only tie that he'd do such a thing. "I... My backpack's in the back of the car. It's a silver mercedes. It belongs to a... Friend of mine." The young man dug out the keys from a protected inner pocket and handed it over to the professor.

It was a moderate gamble - as there were less than a handful of mercedes driven by students at the university - but Connor was fairly confident that there were dozens of mercedes driven in the city - and why would the other suspect that the car that he'd used belonged to a student at the university that he taught at? Particularly since none of his roommates took any of the Silver Wolf's classes - at to let them live. At least, that's what they'd been taught.

Cormac wandered off to help load unconscious civilians into ambulances, and Connor was hopeful that none of the paramedics would focus on him. He was conscious after all, and even sitting upright. It was dreadfully tempting to lay back down on the bench and sleep for a long time - but the young man was aware that he probably should eat more before he did so, as otherwise he'd just be more miserable. Connor suppressed a yawn, and instead focused on watching the police and paramedics move about. Part of him wanted to offer to help - but as standing up did not go well previously, the young hero stayed still.

The young man waited patiently for food to arrive, occasionally biting the inside of one of his cheeks, in order to keep himself alive, and a huge yawn escaped him, despite his best efforts to contain himself. Connor heard a rustling sound to his left, from the direction of the large hedges that obscured the manor from the street. He focused on the sound, turning to see it and speaking loudly, in order to attract the attention of the police who were still working to gather all of the evidence "I don't think that you're supposed to be here, whoever you are."

They were dressed in a blue-grey suit, and had a microphone in hand. There was someone with a large camera behind him, and Connor was trying really, really hard not to dive for the nearest bit of cover, as it was more likely for the reporter to try to pursue him, and for the camera person to try to take pictures of him if he tried to flee them. "Ah, hello young man! I'm Thomas Payne, and I am with the Daily Times, would you like to give a statement about what has happened here? The people have the right to know, and it looks like a war zone."

"You do not have the clearance to be here right now, as it is an active crime scene." The Silver Wolf called out from behind the pair of very dangerous people, as Connor wasn't supposed to be photographed by the press unless cleared to do so, which he hadn't.

"Silver Wolf! Would you like to explain why there is such a mess, at the estate of one Of the wealthiest and most influential families in the city? The Rachelliers have been a pillar of New York City High Society since the fifties!” The reporter asked, moving closer to the other, a small frown appearing on his face. “And who is this unknown hero that you are trying to block from my and my camera-person’s sight? Surely the public has the right to know everyone who is protecting them. That is - if you aren’t hiding anything. As for the reason why I’m here - I’m here to try to gather the truth of what’s going on. Surely you’re not going to try to stand in the way of that, Silver Wolf.”

Connor blinked a little, realizing that Silver Wolf was in fact, standing in front of him protectively. The young hero made no move whatsoever to get out from behind the other, and in fact, shifted a little so that it was less likely that he would be seen by either one of the nosy bastards. “You aren’t supposed to be here, as it’s an active crime scene. But I have already told you that. The police will make a statement about what happened here in due time.” 

“But… surely you would like to say something about it now, at least to assuage the fear of the neighborhood as all of them are surely watching with a great deal of worry and concern… And I couldn’t help but notice that you haven't explained the other hero… The presence of more than one hero generally means that something quite dangerous happened. And I have also noticed all of the ambulances coming and going. There are quite a few potential conclusions that can be drawn from that… And your unwillingness to cooperate with me is telling.”

Connor closed his eyes and took in a couple of deep and calming breaths, letting go of the exhaustion based irritation. He silently wondered if the reporter was trying to provoke one or both of them - either to try to get a response that would give him some of the information that he so desperately wanted… But the reporter wasn’t going to get it. 

“Despite what you are trying to insinuate, I won't give you the information that you seek. You don't care for anything but trying to get an exclusive on any event like this that you can.” Silver Wolf responded, sounding vaguely amused and more than a little dismissive. “And the so-called newspaper that you work for is little more than a gossip rag.”

The reporter was sputtering indignantly at the older hero’s words… but Connor in his severely sleep-deprived state couldn't help but start laughing. Between his professor’s calm responses and the reporter's increasing weirdness, the young man couldn't help himself. The reporter was sputtering even more, and Connor was trying to calm down - but he was too exhausted to try to stop himself from the hysterical laughter that was escaping around the hand that he had pressed to his lips, in a desperate attempt to stop himself from laughing. He murmured weakly, between gales of laughter "I... Don't mean to mock you but... The information you seek... Will only be given when they are ready to give it to you, and not a moment more. You can try to lie all you like... But lying to a telepath is... Very stupid. I can tell that you're just trying to chase a story, and I have the psi ability of a rock."

Connor continued to laugh, falling to his knees behind Silver Wolf, managing to just barely get enough breath in to not choke as he continued to laugh, his eyes closing and a warm sort of darkness completely overtaking him. He felt something press against the edges of his mind, and it was one that he had felt before.

He heard Silver Wolf speak - but was the other speaking out loud or in his mind? Telling him to "Rest, Aquila. I will ensure that you will be in a safe place, when you wake. You have fought long and hard, and I will ensure that no harm comes to you while you sleep." 

Connor nodded, saying - or at least thinking "Okay... I will... I trust you..."

 


	12. Chapter 12

Connor woke up in a moving car. The young man could tell that he was in a moving car by the way that the rumbling sounds of the vehicle he was in, and the subtle sensation of moving while not moving himself. The young hero cracked an eye open as he slowly moved his hands, trying to decide whether or not this was some sort of test on Chevalier's part - randomly at least once a year, each of them were kidnapped and thrown into a car or other sort of motorized car. The one who was kidnapped had to try to escape before they were driven to the location - and the rest of the novices had to figure out from where a teammate had been kidnapped and where the kidnappers were going to be taking said practice victim. But his hands were free, and there wasn't a blindfold on his eyes.

The young man stretched a little in the seat, yawning and ruthlessly suppressing the urge to rub the sleep from his eyes, as he'd been told it was a rather childish thing to do and The Silver Wolf was driving the car that he was in.

The two of them were alone in the car, and he'd been strapped into the back of the other's vehicle. He called out in a calm tone of voice "I'm awake now." His backpack was on the seat next to him, and the younger hero started to eat some of the trail mix that he kept in his bag at all times, while taking the occasional sip of water. As much as he wanted to scarf down the food as quickly as possible - washing it down with the entire bottle of water, Connor knew better than to eat that much so quickly - as he might just throw it up all over the other's nice car. "... Sorry for laughing at the reporter earlier. I hadn't meant to do that."

"You were quite exhausted, and laughing is far from the worst exhaustion-reaction I've had to deal with from other people before." The Silver Wolf responded "Several co-workers of mine get rather aggressive when sleep-deprived."

"Oh... Still, I hope I didn't cause you too many problems." The younger hero responded earnestly as he continued to eat.

"No, you hadn't. I did explain to the reporter - although he would insist on being called an investigative journalist, though the publication he works for is hardly such a thing - that you were a younger colleague of mine, and had a very long day and lost composure." Silver Wolf responded.

The idea of working with the older hero on a regular basis... Connor knew that he probably shouldn't want something like that - as the Brotherhood stuck to the shadows whenever possible, and he disliked the spotlight anyways... But the opportunity of working with the older hero was a very attractive thought - and given that the other taught quite a bit at the university... The free time that the both of them had in order to fight crime might line up fairly well. But the other was probably just reassuring the reporter that the hero community was a unified force, as what the Brotherhood and the Order had decided was a good idea to pretend to be for a very long time. "Ah... That's more or less true."

"You told the reporter that you didn't have any psychic abilities... But I would like to say that your shields are very solid, even while you are asleep, for someone who doesn't have any abilities like that." Silver Wolf responded "I've only met a handful of people with shields like yours. One of them is a new student of mine."

The young man tried not to tense up a little at that, and decided to take the other's words as a compliment "It's something that the Brotherhood teaches us... And I find the mental barrier techniques really helpful in maintaining emotional control... I had a bad temper as a teenager, and the meditative techniques helped with that... Also I've been told that psychic abilities run in my father's bloodline, but I wouldn't know. I've got the genes for it, so if I ever had kids, one of them might have it. And... Erm... Not to sound rude or anything, as I'm very grateful that you didn't just leave me passed out on the grass for Lee to heckle later, but... Where are we going?"

"I am heading towards the university of New York, although I am tempted to stop on the way, to get something to eat - I haven't had much to eat, or time to do so. Do you have any preferences?" Silver Wolf responded "Oh? What do you mean by being unsure about your father's bloodline?"

"Oh... There's this great taco place not far from the University - it's one of my favorite places to go, out of uniform. And I can catch a bus elsewhere from the Uni. I need to check in with the dai, probably." Connor responded. He probably would get away with just a phone call - provided that cell phones were working at the university's campus - it should, as the university was quite far from where the robots had attacked last in this city. "As for the other thing... I apparently have markers in my DNA that indicate that one of my parents had... Or has, as I'm not sure if my dad's alive or not. I've never met him. I have his name... My mom didn't have any psi abilities, so it has to be him."'

The Silver Wolf nodded, humming a little. "What's the taco place called?" The other seemed close to asking more questions, but stayed quiet.

Connor was still a little worried that the other might have figured out who he was - the young man wasn't sure how to feel at the thought that it was the strength of his mental barriers that might have given him away. The young hero had been given quite extensive mental training, once he had been accepted at the university that the Silver Wolf was teaching at, to ensure that his identity as a member of the Brotherhood was less likely to be discovered while he was in his civilian persona... But perhaps he hadn't, as though shields as strong as his were fairly standard among Brotherhood members. "Pinches Tacos. I know what the first word means in Spanish, but the place is fantastic."

"I've been there more than once myself. I like their pulled beef tacos quite a bit." Silver Wolf responded, and the younger hero could see a small smile on the other's face, partially beneath the other's three-quarter's face mask. The two of them were quiet as the older hero drove them most of the way to the place, asking quietly, as the two of them were stuck at a red light, three or four blocks away from the taco place "You don't have to answer the question if you don't want to... But I"m curious as to how long you've been working with the brotherhood."

Part of him knew what he should tell the other - a firm and polite 'I would rather not answer that question, and it's none of your business to know that' but... Instead, the truth left Connor's lips - there was just something about the older hero that caused the young man to reveal more about himself than he probably should. It was... It seemed more than the stupid crush that he had on the other, but he was also fairly sure that the other wasn't trying to mentally manipulate him into talking to the other, either. "I was raised by the Brotherhood. My mother worked with them some of the time before I was born and... And after she died, I was brought to one of the training facilities, and was cared for by one of the mentors there."

"Do you know if they tried to contact your father, before you were brought fully into the Brotherhood at such a young age?" Silver Wolf asked. They had managed to move about four car lengths closer before the light changed - it was odd that the traffic was so terrible at this time of day on a Sunday.

Then Connor remembered that it was a Basketball Game day, and that the game was going to be played in the university's stadium - and that some superfans would be already lining up to get into the place, despite the fact that the game wasn't for hours and hours later. He wasn't sure how to answer the other, and despite knowing that he could tell the other that he was uncomfortable discussing such  personal matters with someone who was a stranger... Part of the young man wanted very much to trust the older hero... And it wasn't just because the other was one of his professors, either. Or at least... It didn't seem to be, although why that was, the young man couldn't guess. "I... I don't know. The mentors said that they tried but... I'm not sure any of them knew my father's name, and his name isn't on my birth certificate."

"I... I see." The older hero responded, and the young man frowned a little, as he heard a strange catch in the other's voice. Connor wanted to reach out to the other, to comfort the other, although why and for what reason, the young man couldn't guess. "Have you tried looking for him, your father, I mean?"

"I... I'd like to meet the man who my mom loved so much... But all I have is his name, and though it's... Not the most unusual name ever, there are dozens of people whose names match... And, despite the laws that occasionally start to come down the line on a state and sometimes federal level... It isn't as if there's some sort of registry of people with powers who I could check against and try to find him from that. Not that I'd ever support something so awful." Connor responded, shuddering a little at the very idea. "And... I did... I may have once or twice snuck onto the Brotherhood's database, but I couldn't find a match for the abilities my dad might have had and his name matching anyone who was a member, or who is currently..."

The Silver Wolf shivered a little in sympathy. "That's understandable. I do hope that you find him - or that he lives up to who you hope he is."

"I... Thanks?" Connor responded, very glad that his mask hid his suddenly dark red cheeks. He was feeling very vulnerable at the moment, and the temptation to curl into a defensive ball was surprisingly strong. Not that he was going to, as that would be completely ridiculous, especially since he was buckled into a car. Was the other trying to imply something? Or was the other just trying to come up with a conversational topic that wasn't about work? But if so... There were a million different small-talky things the other could start with... Why all this stuff about family? Connor stayed quiet, as the other parked, saying quietly "I... I'm still in uniform, and I'm... Not really supposed to interact with the public unless it's an absolute emergency, like this..."

"... That is an excellent point, Aquila. This place is quite quick on their service, and I would be content to bring whatever you wanted to you, once it was made." Silver Wolf responded "There are a couple of other options, but I would understand your... Uncertainty in acting on them, as I would be able to see your face, though I wouldn't ask for your name."

Which would work, given that there were many, many people in New York City... If it wasn't for the fact that Connor was one of the Silver Wolf's students - in a class that was due to continue for the next few months, and the class was small... A class that was meant to be small, so that the Silver Wolf had time to work with each of them, while helping them learn how to control their Ability or Abilities. "I... Ah... If you could get me six beef tacos, and a side of rice and refried beans, that would work with me? I... It's just... I've broken quite a few regulations as it is and... And letting you see my face..."

"Feels like one rule bent too many? I understand your concern." The older hero responded. "I shouldn't be gone long."

"Thanks." Connor responded as he dug through his backpack, pulling out a twenty from his wallet and holding it out to the other, as he wasn't going to assume that the other was going to pick up the tab for his food "This should cover what I asked for."

Silver Wolf took the money and responded quietly "Thank you - although I wouldn't have minded covering the tab."

The younger hero fidgeted a little before responding "You've already driven me close to a spot where I can get going where I needed to go - I didn't want to impose on your hospitality more than I already have."

"You aren't a bother. You did quite a lot of good, in making sure that the captured civilians weren't forced to commit crimes. Not that they would have been charged with anything, but some of them may have woken up and been frightened by what they were being forced to do - although they may have also been injected with the chemical cocktail that had the previously captured civilians to mindless and raging. I am well aware of the rules that the Brotherhood you work for have, and the penalties for being caught breaking some of them can be rather severe." Silver Wolf responded. "They also could have been kidnapped, as many of the civilians in the party were from wealthy and influential families - a few of them internationally wealthy families, which would have complicated things quite a bit. Given the nature of what this was - the wealth of the families involved in this, rather than the robots - some of the families may be searching for whoever it was who rescued their children... And possibly dared to leave bruises on them. Not that I would let them harass you - although if you suspect that you are being tailed, I can help. There are resources I can utilize that would likely help in you not getting in trouble for helping before being cleared to do so... Unless that's no longer a thing."

"It's still a thing, except in dire emergencies and either the communications device that you have is either broken or won't connect to the area leader. The latter happened to me, but he... The local leader is... As I've previously mentioned, very strict and tends to enforce the letter of the law, rather than the spirit in which it was meant. On the other hand, he might be trying to drive those of us who he hadn't trained personally out of the city." Connor responded, trying and failing not to feel surly about Chevalier's bullshit. The three novices who he had trained since they were young couldn't do anything wrong - but everyone else was punished for the slightest infraction. He... Probably shouldn't have said that to Silver Wolf. "Erm... I hadn't meant to say that out loud, I'm... Really tired."

"I can tell.  I'll head off to get food now. Do you want me to wake you, if you accidentally fall asleep before I come back, or would you rather I let you rest?" The older hero responded, sounding amused and almost playful.

Connor ducked his head, glad that his mask hid the embarrassed blush that was spreading across his face as he answered after a couple of moments "If... If you could wake me up when you've got the food, I'd be grateful. I'm tired, but I am also ravenously hungry and... With a high metabolism, food is more important than sleep right now." Silver Wolf nodded in understanding, before getting out of the car, and heading into the taco restaurant.

~

To keep himself awake, the young hero pulled out his phone, glad to see that it had most of a charge. It was roughly ten am, and Connor absently noted that he'd been awake for well over twenty-four hours. There was also a dozen texts from his squad-mates, all dated from the past twenty minutes or so. A worried frown appeared on his face as Connor pulled up the first message, reading through it quickly. They all read roughly the same, and the young man created a group chat, so that he could answer all of them at once:

[What do you all mean 'we have more training' he said yesterday that he'd covered everything, and to leave him alone for the rest of the weekend?] Connor texted back, trying to shove down the mounting panic. Chevalier was going to be utterly intolerable if he was late to a training session.

[He called us at like three in the morning, demanding that we all  head to the main headquarters. He's had us running all over the city since then, getting cats out of trees, stopping muggings, that sort of thing. He realized twenty minutes ago that you never showed up - and apparently your phone was off when he tried to call you initially.] Ezio responded first.

[Yeah, WTF? He's seeing red. You better have a good reason why your phone was off.] This was Desmond.

[My roommates called, wanting to be picked up from a party they were at, completely smashed, and ran into trouble on the way. I tried to call in and my phone wasn't working.] Connor texted back [The roommates I'm supposed to be very accommodating with, as per his orders, to make 'good connections with wealthy civilians' last time. When one of them had to be bailed out of jail and didn't want to call their parents' lawyer.] The fact that they were lying to him about being on Firestarter's watch detail - and then on clean up while the group chased after the pyromaniac and their band of villainous assholes was... Something that Connor had actually been expecting.

[That does not explain why your phone was off. You should have texted me in the first place. In addition, Miles you should know better than to use unsanctioned abbreviations while communicating with allies within the Brotherhood, to avoid confusion.] 'Aveline' texted. It was clearly Chevalier from the way the person was writing, and Connor was mildly stressed as to how and why he had decided to take her phone.

[I... Thought it was a simple enough thing to do, and when the situation turned Weird I couldn't call in. I tried and I couldn't reach you or the adjunct mentor. I couldn't talk to the 911 operator for very long... Who might have been a minion or the person behind the Weird fucking with me. Then my phone died.] Connor responded back.

[Give me a brief report on what you mean by weird, Hill. And do be quick about it. In addition - where are you? I sent Ahad and the younger Sayif to wake you ten minutes ago, and they have told me that you aren't on campus. What sort of trouble did you get into this time?] Chevalier responded, this time on his own phone, having apparently added himself into the conversation while using Aveline's phone - or ordered one of the others to do so on a different thread.

Connor texted out the condensed version of what happened last night, sending it in several longer texts, to avoid any impatient prodding from Chevalier before he was finished. He ended it with [the police were on the scene almost at the same time as Silver Wolf was, and he helped me finish up with the last of the smaller robots. I would have grabbed some but... I didn't want to be charged with tampering at a crime scene, and didn't have the energy to try to evade. Still don't. As for where I am... Silver Wolf offered to drop me off at a transit center and I accepted. Still in uniform and I don't think he knows my civilian identity. I'm waiting for a bit of food and then I'm going to change somewhere hidden and sleep until tomorrow.]

[Are you still with Silver Wolf?] Chevalier responded back immediately.

[Not currently, but he'll be back with the food, as I didn't want to duck into a place with people in uniform.] Connor responded back, hoping that the other wouldn't order him to leave immediately, now that he was by himself.

[It's suspected that someone on the inside either the Brotherhood or the Order is helping the person behind the robot attacks. The anger serum has markers in it that... I won't go into detail in a medium that can be recorded... But there is evidence that someone is leaking information and materials to this person. Be careful and keep your eyes and ears open.] Chevalier responded in the group text thread [this goes for all of you. Watch any Order hero or support person you meet carefully.]

Seconds later, as everyone was chiming in with [Yes sirs] Connor's phone buzzed again. It was another text message from Chevalier - but it was to himself alone.

[I know that you have a bit of a fascination with Silver Wolf, but there is evidence leading to a higher ranking member of either the Brotherhood or the Order being involved in this... Possibly both. There is a psychic element to the robots that is almost impossible to have without a telepath being involved - a powerful one. If you can have limited contact with him to see if he may have fallen away from the path of a hero, do so. I am also aware that you have contact with him in your civilian persona as well. Be vigilant, be charming and try to win his trust.] The dai of New York City responded [This isn't something I can order you to do, and neither is it... Strictly within the rules for me to encourage such a thing. Be careful. If you think it will help him trust you more... I am giving you off the books permission to reveal to him who you are. If you get caught, I will have to punish you officially.]

[I... I'll do my best to keep my eyes and ears sharp.] Connor responded, quietly horrified at the implication that the hero whom he had looked up to as an idol might stoop so low as villainy. He didn't want to believe it to be true... But heroes just as well known, just as respected had been corrupted in the past. His mind was spinning with quite a few very unpleasant possibilities. The young hero wasn't sure how the older hero would react to him revealing himself - Connor had caught a couple of hints from the other that he might suspect who he was... But the young man was also aware that he could just be jumping at shadows, with a bit of a guilty conscience, as it was a tacit agreement that those of one organization did not pester those of another when said members of the other organization had public jobs or careers in their heroic persona, as the Silver Wolf did. His mind continued to spin and spin, as he struggled to figure out just what he should do. From what Chevalier was telling him outright - as well as implying, the other was giving him quite a free hand in this matter - so long as he wasn't caught by either another mentor, or... Or even by his fellow novices, who would have to report it officially to Chevalier and another mentor.

The young man was so entirely caught up in his own thoughts, that he hadn't realized that the Silver Wolf was approaching with food, until he heard the door locks unlock - the sound loud and surprising enough to cause the young man to startle badly enough in his exhausted state to switch forms. The instincts he had in this form were screaming at him to get out of this small, enclosed space that he could barely partially open his wings in, much less do anything else, even as Connor attempted to calm himself down.

Connor felt something press against his mind - a silent offer of help from the Silver Wolf, and despite the warnings he'd just been given, the young man allowed the serenity that the other was offering to wash through him, which helped the young man to settle and switch back into his human form. The older hero silently got back into the car, and handed over a cardboard container full of delicious smelling food, staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face. The young man decided that though the gamble was risky, it was worth it.  He switched off the voice changer in his mask before removing it and tugged down the hood that hide the color of his hair. "I... err... Hi professor... There are a couple of things I'd like to talk to you about..."

The older hero continued to stare at him, without blinking or speaking, and the young man could only distantly feel the other's mental presence. Connor swallowed nervously "If... If you don't want to talk right now, I... I understand. Both of us have had a... A really long night."

The young man swiftly put his mask back on, intending to leave, when the other spoke in a quiet and almost emotionless voice. "Wait a moment, please."

Connor froze where he was, unsure as to what else to do, and slightly unnerved by Silver Wolf's reaction. "A-Alright..."

The older hero carefully got into the car fully, sitting down and closing the door, keeping the younger hero in his sight line the entire time. Silver Wolf watched him with the same blank-faced stare for an uncomfortably long time - and Connor couldn't help but fidget with his hands. His appetite - which had woken up when the delicious smelling food came into the car (as his appetite had died during his text conversation with the others) had died again. The older hero asked in deliberately measured and emotionless tones "Is there a particular reason why you have revealed your secret identity to me? Why have you been taking one of my classes? It's on the syllabus that I will not tolerate recruiters in my class - that includes from the Brotherhood and the Order."

"I haven't been going to your classes as an attempt to recruit anyone. I... I very recently got the Ability to change into an Eagle and I... I hoped to learn how to control it properly with your teaching. It's... It's not the only Ability I've very recently gotten - but the... The other the Brotherhood doesn't know about." Connor admitted anxiously. The young man had dropped his mental barriers on purpose, so that if the other wished to, he could read his thought, and verify the truth "If... If you want me to drop your class, I understand why."

"I see. Did you have any ulterior motives in taking one of my classes? And please be honest, though your barriers are some of the most formidable of any non-telepath your age I have ever met, I can sense when you are lying and when you are telling the truth." The older hero responded, voice still startlingly void of emotions. The other wasn't giving any indication as to whether or not he wanted Connor to drop the class. If the older hero, it... The rejection would hurt,  but the young an would understand why... As many people on both sides were still deeply wary of those who weren't in their faction. "What is this Ability that you are keeping from the Brotherhood?"

The young man fidgeted again, but didn't break eye contact with Silver Wolf, admitting shyly "I... I've always looked up to you. I... I know it sounds like a suck-up answer but I... It's the truth. As for the Ability I've been hiding from the Brotherhood..." Shouldn't it be obvious? The other was aware of his healing ability, from the time before last they met. Then again, the Order might treat their Healers differently "My ability to Heal others. I gained the ability about six months ago."

The Silver Wolf nodded, staying quiet for a miserably long time before responding quietly "I would prefer my students not try to be active Heroes, and I had noticed that you had some discipline training that wasn't easily explained by you being a civilian, and I knew that you didn't go into the military for a time. I can tell that you are telling the truth. As long as you don't try to convince the others to run off and become heroes, I would be happy for you to continue taking my Abilities training class."

The tense knot that was his stomach loosened, and Connor let out an audible sigh of relief, and a grateful smile appeared on his face "Thank you, and as I said before, I don't have any intention on trying to drag anyone else into the life of a hero. I... I did hear that a couple of them were thinking about looking into the vigilante thing. I did warn them that being a vigilante is still illegal, and that the heroic organizations have rules and regulations and more extensive training programs for those who wish to be heroes... And that not every hero has Abilities - Dawn Bringer is one of the most recognizable current hero who has no Abilities... At least as far as I know, they don't have any Abilities. I might have gotten through to them a bit... But I can name quite a few people who, powers or no, would love to try to be a hero, if they thought they could."

"Which ones were interested in such things?" Silver Wolf asked. Connor was about to answer the other when he raised a hand slightly "I think I suspect who it is. I was going to give the class the Bruises, Broken Bones, and Little Money lecture, as though the Order does pay a small retainer for those who help... It's not a glamorous affair for the most part. And you should eat, since you're hungry. I can hear your stomach growling from here... Unless you'd rather eat elsewhere? I can drape my cape between the front two seats, and give you a bit of privacy if you'd rather leave..."

"N-no, I don't mind eating with you! I just... I wasn't sure how you were going to react to... To me being a member of the Brotherhood... Especially since..." Connor responded, going quiet as he started to dig into his food, not wanting to say something, lest it upset the other.

"Since there have been some... Rising tensions between the Brotherhood and the Order? I wouldn't hold that against you, Connor." Silver Wolf responded, a gentle smile appearing on the other's face.

The young man felt himself blush again, and hoped that the other wouldn't notice. It wasn't as if he _chose_ to feel attracted to the other, and the older hero's surprisingly easy acceptance of him wasn't helping him deal with said emotions in the way that he should be. "T-thanks professor. I... I can't help but notice that some of the problems between the... The two organizations are... Are over the capture of several different villains - especially those who are prone to escape and are... Are violent. I... It's only been happening over the past few years and I... I've noticed some odd things about where these villains have been attacking."

"The fact that they tend to pick places that have significance to either the Brotherhood or the Order, rather than lashing out and causing harm to civilians over the past few years? I have noticed that as well. If the villains in question weren't usually so famous for being lone players for the most part, I'd suspect some grander scheme. Someone pulling the strings behind the scenes, to try to break the alliance between our organizations." Silver Wolf responded, nodding a little as the both of them started to dig into what was technically dinner... Or breakfast, depending on how one looked at it.

"I... I want to look into what's going on, but every time I start, I get redirected, and the leader of the area thinks that I'm just jumping at shadows... But you know that purple symbol, on the robots? The flower? I... I think I've seen it on some of the tech stuff that Strikethrough and Alrueb Allayliu were using. I was on clean up after the both of them were taken down." Connor responded, confessing something that he'd been thinking about for the past couple of days.

"Firestarter and their gang had a couple of things with that purple flower on them as well. And I think I have seen that symbol on tech seized from other villains in the past. It's something that I definitely will look into... I'm sure that I've seen that symbol several weapons that Momoku no fuku's gang had been using about five years ago. It's definitely something I am going to be looking into. I have a bit more clout in my organization than you likely do in ours." Silver Wolf responded, a concerned frown appearing on his face. "I'm glad that you brought that up."

"I... T-thanks." Connor wanted to warn the other that he might be putting himself into danger - that his Dai was concerned that someone in one or both of their organizations had been compromised - but the other's written warning that Silver Wolf might be in on it rang in the back of his mind, and he stayed quiet. "I'm... I'm glad I'm not the only one who's concerned that there's more going on than what seems to be a rash of robot attacks among other unrelated crime." He might have overplayed his hand a little - or a lot, if Silver Wolf turned out to be a traitor... Not that Connor wanted to believe that his childhood hero would be part of something so awful.

 


	13. Chapter 13

Connor was grateful that he wasn't the only one to think that there might be a link between some of the villains who had gained prominence over the past few years - and the fact that all of them were rather suspiciously well equipped. Silver Wolf seemed to believe him, and over the next several months, the two of them worked together, pouring over paper records about past captures of villains of the past several years - paying attention to pictures and descriptions of the weapons and any armor and tech supplies that had been found on them - or in the villains' lairs. Connor had been able to get the information from the record hall, by saying that he wanted to look over past files, to see what the forensic people had seen that he had missed, in order to learn how to be a better, more effective hero. This pleased Chevalier enough for him to get the files that he requested without any further questioning.

The young man wanted to bring at least a couple of his fellow novices in on this project - he trusted them with his life and had done so more than a couple of times... But if he and Silver Wolf was correct, this spoke of a much larger, much more dangerous conspiracy that could put the both of them into quite a lot of danger, and Connor wasn't willing to risk their lives on a hunch. Besides - most of the others had been sent off on a months-long mission out of the country, tracking down the source of a new drug that caused normal people to hallucinate and bleed from their ears... And caused those with Abilities to lose all control and scream about luminous beings trying to devour their minds.

As the brotherhood was paying for his studies, Connor had quit the part time job that he had been working at in order to have a little bit of extra spending money, so that he could devote the time that he'd previously used for that in order to devote to figuring out this mystery. Silver Wolf and he had also grown much closer in the past few months, than simply professor and student as well, driven as the pair of them were to get to the bottom of something that could be very dangerous, if not dealt with before whichever villain or group of villains wasn't stopped before they unleashed whatever diabolical... And from what the both of them could figure, global plan. Given the utter secrecy of what they were doing - and the many hours they spent together, pouring over documents and old pieces of evidence, it made sense.

Connor was currently waiting for Silver Wolf to finish up with the last of his office hours for the day, quizzing himself using notecards. He had a big exam coming up later in the week in his pharmacology class, and the young man was trying to remember which lab values that needed to be closely monitored while a patient was on beta-blockers, and what the clinical manifestations might occur in patients whose values were off - and what to do in order to bring them back into balance. He had already grabbed the stack of information that they were going to be going over, as earlier today his clinical lab professor had taken ill suddenly, and had dismissed the class an hour early. Connor had flown to the main base, picked up the information and swung by the Chinese place on the way back to the University that he knew that Silver Wolf liked a lot, as they'd be settling in for another long night of going through files, and piecing together the breadcrumbs to prove to both of their organizations that much more was going on than random acts of villainy over the past few years.

"Ah, there you are, Connor. I did promise that if I had time, I would counsel you on how to balance your schedule a bit better... Unfortunately I need to head home, but I am happy to listen and advise you on the way to my car." Haytham said as he came out of his office - it was one of the codes that they used, when other people were around.

"Thank you, sir!" The young man responded brightly as he followed the other, starting to talk to the other about the massive amounts of stress and worry he was under, and his uncertainty about whether or not he was even good enough to actually become a doctor... But that he had invested so much time, effort and money into becoming a doctor, that stopping the attempt now - when he was a little over a year away from his clinical rounds, felt like giving up, and that he would be a horrible, good-for-nothing failure. Not that Connor felt that way, but it was something that more than a couple of his classmates had confessed to fearing, or had openly broken down and sobbed, after a particularly difficult examination.

The rant lasted until they were at Silver Wolf's car, and the older hero placed a gentle hand on one of his shoulders, and said firmly "Connor, you are one of the best students in your class, and while I understand your concerns about not being adequate enough... You are still learning how to help people, how to heal them. Once you get out into your clinicals, I am certain that you will do wonderfully. You do excellently in the academic circles, and I have seen you volunteer around campus, and you interact with others very well there." The other offered more encouragement, resting a light hand on one of the other's shoulders. Mentally, Silver Wolf told him {There are several other students watching. I will meet you at the cafe we usually go to and pick you up there.}

"I... Th-thanks sir. I'll try that meditation thing that you mentioned... And you're probably right about me overreacting because of stress." Connor responded, nodding ever so slightly in understanding. "I'm going to go get something to eat, and then take the rest of the night off, from studying."The older hero nodded, as a fond smile appeared on his face, and the two of them parted ways temporarily.

~

Connor had just ordered a hot chocolate and a couple of hazelnut and white chocolate cookies when he spotted Silver Wolf's car in the street, pulling up to the cafe. He waited impatiently for his drink to arrive, barely resisting the temptation to nibble on the cookies - he had gotten one of them for the older hero - who also had a weakness for the cookie. As soon as he had it in hand, Connor left the cafe, getting into the back of the other's car. "I got the information that you wanted."

The older hero nodded, smiling at him through the mirror before focusing on the road "Good. I can almost feel that we're getting close to having enough information to present our arguments to both of our organizations - they shouldn't ignore the information that we bring to them about a plot like this. While it's... Embarrassing that no one has noticed something like this, trying to sweep this much information under the rug and ignoring it would be foolish and dangerous."

"I just hope that the mentors will listen to me. I don't like jumping over the dai's head but... I... I'm not sure he'll take the information we've pieced together as anything to really think about. He doesn't seem to think much about my opinion... Or anyone else's if they're beneath him, really." Connor responded, frowning a little. "He's been getting more rigid about rules and inflexible about protocol over the past few months. I'm not sure why and it's a little bit terrifying, to be honest."

"That's... A little odd. Hopefully it's nothing worrisome." The older hero responded - though the young man could hear the frown in the other's voice.

Connor nodded, staring out one of the windows and watching the city go by. It was easier to go through the information once they were back at the other's place - and some of the past evidence made the young man sick looking at it when he wasn't moving as some of it was... Graphic and horrible.

The ride to the older hero's place was short - due in part because the other lived in an apartment close to the university to make the commute easy - but far enough away that it was unlikely that anyone who would recognize Connor as a student might spot him and wonder why he was going up to a professor's apartment. He hadn't realized they were there, until the older hero opened the car door he was sitting next to, and asked "Are you alright? You seem a bit distracted."

Connor felt himself blush and managed out an earnest "Just got lost in my thoughts, ! I should be paying better attention to my surroundings."

"You should... But it's flattering to know that you trust me enough to lose focus." The older hero responded, a warm smile appearing on the other's face, before the other leaned in close and pressed a light kiss to Connor's lips. Silver Wolf... Or rather, Haytham, as the older man had asked him to call the other a couple of weeks ago, while at his apartment, asked. The other was in his civilian clothes - and the young man delighted in being able to see the other's lovely bright blue eyes. To know more about Haytham.

"I... Of course I trust you, Haytham. How could I not?" Connor responded as he got out of the car, following the other into his apartment. He tried not to even think of the other's civilian name outside of this area, just in case Chevalier's warning about a telepath being involved with the robot maker was true, as he didn't want to give away the other's identity, even unknowingly. He pressed a couple of fingers to his lips, grinning as he set their dinner down on the other's kitchen table.

The... Evolution of the two of their's relationship into what it was now had started about a month ago. One of Haytham's neighbors had teasingly asked if the two of them were dating, and in a fit of daring that Connor still wasn't entirely sure where it came from, the young man had said yes, before kissing Haytham on the lips. He had been terrified that he'd ruined the friendship that had grown between the two of them on the rest of the elevator ride up, and as soon as they'd gotten to Haytham's apartment, he'd started with the apologies... Only to have the older hero trap him against his front door and kiss him silly.

"You surprise me in the most wonderful of ways, Connor." Haytham responded, a warm and earnest smile appearing on his face, as he came closer, pulling him into a warm hug.

The younger man beamed at the other's words, snuggling into the other close, happy and determined. "Thanks." They hugged for a little bit longer, before moving apart and settling down for dinner and hours of pouring through the reports and figuring out what evidence supported what they were looking for - as well as what pointed to them being wrong... As neither of them wanted to come to their respective organizations with what could potentially be a terrible global threat, if the two of them had only found that they were just using a relatively unknown technology company to get their stuff, as it would be cheaper and easier to get without being caught out - or hacked.

~

Connor's phone went off at ten pm, as it did every night, and the young man groaned a little, rubbing his face with his hands. "I should probably head off for the night."

Haytham sighed a little, carefully gathering up the papers and photographs scattered everywhere on the table. They were in a specific order, although anyone outside of the two of them would only see a chaotic mess that made little sense. "You're right - you should go. I wish that you didn't have too..."

The younger man smiled a little at that "I don't want to go either... And I would normally have another hour to spend with you tonight, but..."

"You need to check in with your dai, I understand. Do you have any idea as to why he wants to talk with you?" Haytham asked curiously.

"He said something about having a quick mission for me to run, along with some of the others. I'm not sure who else would be going with me - as far as I know, everyone else is still chasing after that drug dealer across three continents. I hate it when he pulls me in for a mission on a school night, but he promised it would be quick." Connor responded with a sigh.

"And I understand that you have to play nice with him, or he'll try to lobby to have them pull you out of school. Again. Please call me, if something comes up? I am well aware of the fact that you can handle yourself quite well... But I might be able to help things go faster, especially if he's sending  you to do who knows what all by yourself." Haytham responded, catching one of the younger man's hands in both of his own, and pressing a gentle kiss to Connor's knuckles.

Overprotectiveness of date-mates was something endemic to people in the hero gig, and Connor knew that the other struggled to subdue his protective instincts as the other was quite famous in his heroic persona, and had dealt with more than one person he'd been romantically interested in being scared off by his long-standing enemies... or worse yet, the paparazzi. "If it's something that I can call you in on, I promise that I'll try."

The other nodded, smiling a little and walking him over to the subway station that wasn't far from his apartment, the two of them walking arm in arm, leaning against one another. The train arrived just as the two of them reached the stop, and Connor pressed a loving kiss to the other's lips, murmuring "I love you, Haytham. See you tomorrow, hopefully!" The young man was also aware that there was a chance that they wouldn't be able to see one another tomorrow - their schedules might conflict - or the other, as the Silver Wolf - would be called off to help... Maybe with the aftermath of the tropical storm that was menacing Florida. It hadn't hit yet, but there was a chance that it might, and telepaths were very good at finding buried survivors - especially a telepath who had the nose of a wolf and the training of a seasoned search and rescue operator.

"I hope to see you tomorrow as well, love." Haytham responded, stealing one last kiss after Connor boarded the train, dodging getting trapped by the automatic doors by seconds.

Connor grinned a little, waving and watching out of the window until the train turned and Haytham was out of sight. There were a lot of people on the train - though not at the stop that he was on, as it was one of those in-between stops that didn't lead to much other than a residential place. He completely ignored the stares he'd garnered from the kiss, heart light and full of love. Connor was quite certain that they were going to have enough evidence to speak to others about their findings within the next month, on the outside. He just hoped that they had figured out that some of the villains had allied themselves with one another, and were probably about to launch something dangerous and devastating on a world-wide scale before it was too late to stop them.

 


	14. Chapter 14

Connor arrived at the main bureau - using the hidden entrance as it was easier to use at night. The young man yawned softly, shaking himself mentally and making sure that he was wearing a neutral expression - rather than the fond smile that had lingered on his face due to the kisses he'd shared with Haytham earlier. If any of them seemed the least bit cheerful or happy in the past couple of month, Chevalier had taken to mocking the unfortunate person and grilling them about every little thing - to the point of driving them to either tears or rage. He knocked on the door to Chevalier's office, waiting patiently for the other to come to the door - he could see that the other was inside - but that he was speaking to a couple of people. The dull grey of their glow revealing that they were tenants.

Several minutes later, the tenants left, and Chevalier opened the door, informing him "The rest of your team are at the south waterfront, near Sixth and Madison. They have tracked the creation of the drug back there. I will be coordinating all of yours movements from here. They asked for additional back-up and you are the only one left in the city that I can spare - the others are on active missions."

"I'll go, sir. Do I need to bring any specialized equipment in order to help them?" Connor asked, ready and willing to help his friends and comrades in arms.

"You shouldn't need anything more than the standard equipment that you have - and an earpiece. The earpiece is right here, and I have it on the correct channel for you to communicate with the others." The leading mentor of New York City responded, gesturing to a small box on the table "Go as quickly as you can to where they are. They did not tell me that they were in emergent danger, but De Grandpere and Ahad are hiding in the rafters, unable to get further into where they need to go due to guards, and the others are similarly hiding."

Connor nodded, glad that he knew how to transform into his eagle form and not lose everything he was wearing in his human form. "I'm on my way. I'm not sure how quickly I'll get there - do you want me to check in, once I get there, or is it radio silence unless absolutely necessary?"

"Silence unless there is trouble or you and the others have captured the building... Or the mission has failed because your targets have escaped." Chevalier responded. The French hero reached out to Connor, as the young man headed back towards the door, as he put the earpiece in his ear "Be careful, they are well funded and ruthless. I wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't hesitate on killing you or any of the others, if they are caught."

The younger hero swallowed hard at that - always good to know the danger level of the mission one was going on, before they went there. Although Connor wasn't entirely surprised that international drug dealers were that ruthless. "Yes sir, I'll keep that in mind."

Chevalier nodded, removing his hand from the young man's shoulders, saying "Remember, Connor: Evil lurks in the shadows, but..."

"Not all who hide in the shade are evil." The younger man finished, eyes widening a little as he left the other's office, intending to change into eagle form and fly over the city to his target - he could use his second sight to locate where he needed to go in that form. Connor took a couple of moments to gather his thoughts as he shifted forms. The formal parting words were a subtle warning that this wasn't a mission to be taken lightly - not that the young man would have without it. He was briefly tempted to call Haytham - as he knew that the other would probably come to help... But on the other hand, Connor wasn't sure how bad the situation was, and he... He was hesitant to pull the other in on a mission where the others would be involved before he had a good grasp on what all was going on. And he... Connor would rather not put his beloved in potential danger unless he absolutely had to. The young man briefly checked his phone - to see if he could potentially fib to the others as to how he'd gotten there, frowning in shock at the horrible, horrible traffic that was everywhere, through what appeared to be most if not all of the city. He made sure to change into his heroic outfit before changing shape and heading out.

~

It took him twenty minutes to fly over to the warehouse that his friends and teammates were currently in and around. It would have taken him much, much longer if he'd tried to drive, bike or use public transit to get there - in part because there were several nasty traffic jams that had tied up all of the major roads through the city - which caused a bunch of people to seek smaller roads in order to try to avoid the traffic - causing quite a bit of slowing - and he had heard that the breaks on two of the older subway trains had given out - and though the conductors had managed to get the trains to stop before they hit anything, it had caused all of the subway lines to grind to a halt.

Connor landed on the roof, changed forms and made his way quietly over to where Malik and Desmond were silently arguing, calling out softly "Someone called in the cavalry?"

Both Desmond and Malik spun towards the sound of his voice, and Desmond rushed towards him, eyes flickering gold briefly before tackling him in a tight hug "Aquila! You're a sight for sore eyes. We need to catch up, once this mission is over."

Malik moved closer to him at a more sedate pace, though the other did smile a little at him "It's good to see you, Aquila. Do you know how many others might be coming to help us?"

"Boss man said I'm it - anyone else whose in the city is either already here or unavoidably detained. He  also told me that several of the others are hiding but could be discovered by enemies?" Connor responded, telling the both of them everything he knew about the mission.

"That's true - as far as we know. We lost contact with all six of them about ten minutes ago, and we've been trying to figure out what to do next." Desmond responded, staring through the ceiling of the warehouse, eyes glowing gold. "I say that we smash and grab if they've been captured, as our cover's been blown - but Shifra here disagrees with me. I can see where all our people are, and since you're here too, if we strike simultaneously where they are, we should be able to rescue them and regroup."

"I disagree with Songbird - we don't know for certain if they've been captured. This warehouse is lined in some sort of material that interferes with the earpieces. We've been having difficulties talking to Boss when we were on the ground, and the warehouse between us and open air. We can barely talk to him on the roof, when we've got the line open, the static is so bad. There's also the possibility that they are actively hiding from enemies searching the area, and don't want to possibly be overheard." Malik responded, shaking his head a little and frowning.

Connor used his second sight again, noting the number of enemies - or rather, the many, many red shining figures, and their placement in regards to the blue figures of the rest of their team. "I... Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it soon. Are we destroying the shipment of whatever the gold stuff is, or are we capturing some of it, so that the medical division can tear it apart to make an antidote?"

"We're to take several samples, and destroy the rest, making it look as if a rival gang hit the warehouse. If we can, we're supposed to incapacitate the enemies - but if necessary, we have clearance to kill." Malik responded, shifting a little uncomfortably.

Only a couple of their teammates had killed - and a far as Connor knew, neither Malik nor Desmond had killed yet, either. Working in the shadows occasionally necessitated such things but... The prospect of having to do so was chilling - but if it was an enemy's life, or one of his friend's, Connor wouldn't hesitate to use lethal force to protect any one of them. "Good to know. We need to get moving, now. The red figures are headed straight towards where our teammates are. EIther they've been found and are being captured, or they’re about to be."

Desmond used his own second sight and confirmed what Connor had said, and nodded "I don't want to think that they've been compromised..."

"But we've chased these people across a dozen countries on three continents. I agree that we need to see if they have been captured, and to free them, if we're able to." Malik responded, nodding a little, as a determined expression appeared on his face. The three of them snuck into the warehouse through a partially open door, doing their best not to make any sound - as though neither Connor nor Desmond could see any enemies, there were a couple of motion detectors placed in the immediate area, which needed to be carefully navigated around. Usually one of them would hack the motion sensors, but they simply didn't have the time.

They climbed up the inside of the wall of the large warehouse, and jumped from beam to beam in the rafters - as they were able to avoid the cameras and the motion sensors - passing by large, bulky crates filled with who knew what. They reached the door that their friend were behind - although how much further they were away, neither Connor, nor Desmond could tell. The door was locked with a key pad - but only four numbers were worn down, and the pattern in which they were worn down in, significantly reduced the combinations that they would have to try - and on the second combination, the door beeped, and swung inwards slightly, allowing them to enter...

It revealed a dark staircase going downwards - but as their friends were further in, down they went, senses alert as they made their way through the pitch-darkness. Connor and Desmond were both using their second sight - and guided Malik who was adjusting to the darkness normally, rather than risking using a flashlight and alerting the enemies deeper into this twisting, turning and cramped staircase that continued to go deeper and deeper down. There were several doors that lead off of the staircase - but only two of the eight doors they'd past actually went anywhere - and they were large, empty rooms, with creaking, rotten floors and what looked like spike traps beneath the crumbling wood.

"This is feeling more and more like an Evil Lair, and less like a warehouse." Desmond whispered quietly.

"This feels like a trap. No wonder they couldn't talk to us - we're rather far underground." Malik responded, sounding just as anxious "We... We should leave. I don't want to leave our teammates here, not without knowing if they are free or captured... But I fear we might be headed in towards a trap."

"I'm going to try their comms - they might work, if we're on the same level." Connor answered, touching the small device and turning it back on, calling out quietly "This is Aquila - can any of you hear me?"

Static filled his ear, and it seemed like a very long time, before an oddly familiar voice called out, through the staticky comms "I'm afraid your little spies are a little tied up at the moment, Aquila. If I remember correctly, you're the nosy little hero who's been stopping me. Oh, Silver Wolf takes the credit - but you're the one who's stopped me both times I've tried to get things done in this city. Well, no more!"

Connor shared a glance with Desmond and Malik, his second sight allowing him to read Desmond's lips, as the other mouthed "Oh shit." Suddenly light flooded the room, and Connor could hear a quiet hissing - and spotted white gas starting to fill the room, floating ominously towards them.

"Time to RUN!" Malik barked, pushing the both of them in front of himself, causing both Desmond and Connor to stumble a little before they got their feet beneath them and started running as fast as they could.

Connor - who was fastest of the three of them - had managed to sprint all the way up the long, steep flight of steps, angling himself so that one of his shoulders would hit the door - as there was no way in hell that he was slowing down to try to open the door - not with the gas still hissing and floating up towards them.. And he could hear the tell-tale clicking of the insect-like robots. The villain was continuing to mock them "Just where do you think you're going, my pretty, flighty little heroes? Do you really think that I would just let you escape so easily? Why they sent children to try to go after me... I don't know - but clearly your little heroes' club, really has no idea just who they're dealing with. But All of you will be much better bargaining tools, than the rich idiots I planned on kidnapping months ago. I would hope that your mentors see all of you as more than convenient canon-fodder."

They could hear Ezio shouting - a little on the comms, but mostly from somewhere in the underground complex "Don't listen to this piece of shit's goading words! We'll get out of this somehow, you need to save yourselves, and warn the others! They've-"

The fact that Ezio was suddenly silent was... Ominous, but despite the temptation to turn right back around and go charging through what looked in his second sight, to be some sort of labyrinth to go save his friends- as it looked like everyone but Malik and Desmond were there - the young man hoped not caught, but it was... Possible that all of them had been captured. Connor was well aware of the fact that was precisely what the villain was counting on them to do just that - and he was quite certain that the gas that was hissing up towards them was some sort of knock-out drug at the very least (and in a dangerous and inefficient form) and he didn't have easy access to the fold-able gasmask that he carried around - and Connor also had no idea if the gasmask he had with him would be able to filter out the gas effectively.

The young hero slammed into the door, taking it clean off its hinges, glancing back and freezing for a moment as he realized that Malik had been overtaken by the small, insect-like robots and that Desmond was starting to be overwhelmed by them as well. Connor started to move towards the both of them, eyes widening a little, but both of them shouted at him to "RUN AQUILA! AT LEAST ONE OF US NEEDS TO MAKE IT OUT OF HERE TO GET MORE HELP!"

Connor hesitated for a couple seconds longer, promising seriously "I will be back to help all of you!" Before turning back around and running through the warehouse - leaping up and jumping around the boxes - many of which were moving, as an uncountable number of the smaller robots suddenly appeared from the boxes, forming wave upon wave of metallic bullshit that he would theoretically have to fight through. The young and decided that running through the robots was a terrible idea - but they were everywhere - and they were crawling around the beams of the rafters as well - and climbing along the ceiling.

The young hero muttered under his breath "Fuck this." And transformed into his eagle form, glad that he was able to keep his momentum going, swooping through the window that he'd climbed through on his way into the warehouse in the first place, turning around and yanking it shut with one of his taloned feet. Hopefully the robots would be contained for a little while in there. Connor soared through the air, coming to land lightly on the roof of a nearby warehouse - this one clear of any enemies - though the warehouse he'd just escaped from was so thick with red figures, he could barely see any bit of the blue-gold light of his friends.

With his heart pounding loudly in his ears, Connor used his comm to call out "Boss, boss are you there?"

The villain who had managed to hijack the connection - or stole one of the earpieces from one of his friends - cackled "I'm delighted that you at least, seem to know your place. Your dear comrades in arms were so much more stubborn than you. Unless you were trying to reach whoever had set you pups to hunt me down? I'm sorry, but you won't be able to talk to them. I've got this channel now, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So run away, little coward. Leave your friends in my hands - I will turn them into a magnificent work, that will get a brilliant spotlight across the world!"

At that exact moment, Connor heard his phone start ringing - and the young man switched off his earpiece - pulling it out and setting it far enough away So that if the villain who had been taunting him moments ago could somehow turn the earpiece back on, they wouldn't be able to listen in on the conversation.

Connor didn't recognize the phone number, but he answered anyways “ Yes, who is it?”

Chevalier answered with a curt “Flashing Blade. I just found out that the base has been hacked. As you aren't currently being tormented on television by that lunatic as the others are, I am assuming that you haven't been captured.”

“Yes. Malik and Desmond were behind me and I-" Connor began, intending on explaining what had happened as far as he knew, but the older hero cut him off.

“You fled as per protocol. You need to cut the villain’s live feed as quickly as possible. We are trying to keep their mocking monologue and the faces of your teammates from being seen on a national scale, but there's only so much we can do - whoever this villain is, they've managed to hack at least one satellite and I don't know how long we can stop them, however. They are also forcing a broadcast on local stations, having taken them over entirely." Chevalier responded “There are robots attacking all over the city - I’m afraid you’re on your own. I’m about to head off myself, to fight a large wave of them.”

Connor responded with a grimly determined "Yes sir. I... I'll do my best to save the others." Chevalier hung up before either of them could say anything else.

Connor immediately called Haytham, hoping that he could catch the other before he headed off to one of the battles in the city - as if the other could help him save his friends, they'd have that many more people to help take down the robots... And if the villain who had been mocking him earlier was to be believed, they were the person responsible for the robot attacks - and if he was lucky, either one of his teammates, himself or Haytham would be able to find something that controlled many of the robots - if not all of them, and get the robots to stop attacking people.

The phone rang and rang, and just before the young man was about to reach his beloved's voice message, Haytham answered the phone, sounding tense "Yes, Connor? I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment."

"My teammates have been captured by the villain whose claiming to control the robots." Connor responded back quickly "They're being tormented somehow by said villain, and I'm going to be trying to rescue them - but I... I'd like your help, if you can."

"Where are you?" Haytham responded, sounding focused and intense. "Tell me everything you have observed in the layout of where you are - and anything else of note."

The young man complied, giving as complete and thorough an explanation as possible - including the fact that his earpiece had been compromised as the villain had either been able to hack into it, or had taken it from one of his teammates. "There were living people guarding the warehouse- but they might have been knocked out by the gas that was released. I do have a gas mask and from what I can see using my second sight, there isn't anymore gas, but there are more surveillance devices on the warehouse part of the lair than I had noticed previously - and the villain might release the gas again."

Haytham was quiet for a moment, before saying "I should be there in less than half an hour.. Please wait for me - I will inform the others of where the possible lair is, for additional back up, but that's going to take more time than we have at the moment to save your teammates. Do you know if you're getting any backup from your side?"

Connor answered quietly "Boss says that everyone else is off fighting robots... And besides, most of us who are permanently stationed in this city have already been captured. Because this city is rather strongly protected by your group, there's a light Brotherhood presence here."

"... Good to know. I need to hang up now - I will be changing forms, as it will be faster for me to run there in my animal form than it would be to try to drive... And parts of the city are already under quarantine by the police." Haytham answered back "I love you, Connor. See you soon."

"I love you too,  Haytham. See you soon." Connor echoed back, a small and loving smile appearing on his face as he ended the call, before focusing on the warehouse and the villain lair beneath it. He might as well do a bit more recon, while he waited for Haytham to show up. The young man went back onto the roof of the warehouse, counting a dozen glowing red figures - as apparently the robots had either powered off and would be unseen in his secondary sight, or had escaped somewhere, off to do their creator's evil bidding. Those dozen figures were unmoving, and when Connor carefully snuck back inside, he was able to see that they were in fact, the people that his team had been trying to avoid before. Aquila frowned a little as he recognized two of them - Sinest and Coralios had been two minor villains who had been breaking and entering into people's apartments and stealing TVs - flying out of windows to avoid getting caught. They'd been doing that for years, but about six months ago, they had fallen off of the face of the earth.

Connor grabbed both of them, hauling them out of the warehouse and up onto the roof, using some rope to tie up their unconscious forms before putting enough healing energy into Coralios to wake them up - making sure that they could easily see Sinest, while also being sure that they couldn't try to move.

"I... Wh-what? Sin-sinest! Wake up!" Coralios shouted out, trying to struggle out of his grip, panicking worse as they realized that they'd been caught.

"Sinest is fine... At least for now.” Connor responded, holding the struggling villain impassively "If they stay that way entirely depends on how honestly and quickly you answer my questions."

"I... What the f-fuck? Where are we? Who the fuck are you?" Coralios responded, still struggling in vain to get free.

"My name does not matter. What does matter is this: you have a choice before you. Tell me everything you know about the person you work for - and I will know if you're lying to me. Shouting will do you no good - as the gas that your employer used to try to knock me and my allies unconscious also took you and your friend out as well." Connor responded "I've already been given clearance to kill and though it's not something I enjoy doing..."

"The... T-Th-the O-Order of heroes does... D-doesn't kill. And I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Sinest and me run together - we didn't want to get involved in any larger villain outfit - you always get fucking captured that way. How in the fuck did I get up here anyways? The last thing that I remember, Sinest and I were approached by this complete weirdo. They were ranting and raving about starting some sort of New World Order, and that all of humanity would once again bow before the might of the Isu... They asked if we wanted to help them with this - and I quote "glorious quest". We told them to fuck off, and they brought out this weird, glowing golden ball. It had strange markings all over it and was glowing brightly. That's the last thing I remember before waking up here." Coralios responded, sounding furious and vaguely terrified. Connor could also tell that they were telling the truth as they perceived it.

Well... Fuck. Connor pulled out his phone, and after opening his locked images file - having to input several passwords and allow one of his eyes to be scanned for a retinal pattern, he pulled up an image of an Apple of Eden, and showed the picture to his captive "Is this what the golden ball looked like?"

"I... Yeah. How do you have a picture of this? Are you with that nutcase? I'm telling you,, I don't want any part of it, and neither does Sinest." Coralios responded, starting to struggle more.

"No. I'm part of a group who protects these sorts of Objects from getting into the wrong hands. Most of the time we succeed. This mission has gotten a lot more dangerous. I won't be killing you - or your friend. But I can't allow you to leave before you've been checked to make sure that whoever hijacked your will didn't implant any sleeper programs into your psyche." Connor responded, pulling out a small, pre-filled syringe and injecting it into the struggling and protesting cat-burglar with the knock out serum, and carefully guiding them to the ground. Normally the young an would be trying to do more scouting in the time that he had to wait for backup to show up... But with the involvement of a Piece of Eden... An Apple of Eden... This had gotten far more dangerous.

Connor pulled out his phone, intending on calling Chevalier, when his screen fizzled and popped, and the voice that floated up from the speakers wasn't the French hero - but the villain who had his friends (and a Piece of Eden) "Naughty, naughty! I'll admit that your phone took me much longer to hack than I was expecting, but did you really think that I'd let you try to sing out for help, little birdy? Your friends are waiting! I'll let you see a bit of the stage that I've set up - it's even in the open, so that you can fly down and try to come and rescue them! The stage is set, the lights and cameras are running... So what are you waiting for, little hero? Come, try to stop me."

The screen showed a large, flat stage - and his friends were all tied up on crosses, with robots slowly advancing towards them. They all looked unconscious - and from the way part of the background moved, Connor realized that they were being held further down on the docks - perhaps at the peer, overlooking the water. The young man cursed lowly and took the battery out of his phone, scowling darkly, pacing back and forth as he frantically waited for Haytham to show up.

~

Though it felt like it took an age and a half, Connor heard the older hero howling - still in his animal form. The young man swung down off of the roof of the warehouse and frantically explained everything that he had found out since last they met, staring into Haytham's blue-gold eyes as he finished with "I... I'm not sure w-we can do this by ourselves. N-Not with a Piece of Eden involved..."

Haytham reached out mentally to Connor, and responded with "{More reinforcements will be coming, but as they will be more susceptible to the power of a piece of Eden than the two of us - as both of us have Second Sight and therefore an immunity, due to Isu blood flowing in our veins, it is imperative that we try. How many of your friends, if any of them, have second sight?}"

"All of them except for Malik, Kadar, Shaun and Rebecca. The twins together are a Sage." Connor responded, knowing that he would be heavily reprimanded for giving the other that much information under normal circumstances- but this was far from that. "The villains' moved them down to the water's edge - I flew over to double check to make sure it wasn't some sort of trick to have me going off on a wild goose chase. But... T-they're down there..."

"{Alright - guide me there. It will be easier if you're on my back, rather than flying above me.}" Haytham responded.

Connor nodded and got on the other's back, feeling rather guilty at enjoying the softness of the other's wolf-form's fur beneath his hands. "I would ask if there's a way for me to access your phone if you brought it with you in this form... But as the villain in question was able to hack my phone... I worry that they might be able to do the same for yours, which could have them get a foothold into the Order's Operating system as well as the Brotherhood's." Connor spoke up after a couple of moments as he held on tightly to the older hero, as the other ran swiftly towards the waterfront.

"{I was just barely able to contact one of my colleagues. He was at the furthest reach of my telepathic range, but I did warn him of the involvement of an Apple of Eden. Given how advanced the robots were in the recent attacks... The idea that the remnants of an Isu's spirit being involved in this isn't as great of a surprise as it otherwise would be.}" Haytham answered back.

Connor would have voiced his surprise that the Order had figured out that there had been an Isu involved in this series of attacks - but Haytham rounded the corner and they could see Connor's friends and teammates tied to large wooden crosses, a sea of robots slowly shuffling towards them. The young man squared his shoulders, getting off of Haytham's back as he started shooting at the largest concentration of the robots, using the upwards momentum to turn into an eagle and fly upwards, dodging several flying robots and starting to work at the bonds tying one of his teammates to the cross. Ezio groaned a little in protest, hazel eyes fluttering open and a weak "Hey... Connor..." left his lips.  "Careful - that beak of yours is sharp."

Despite the urge to lightly nip one of Ezio's ears for that comment, Connor managed to slice through the other's bonds.

"Right - I'll start working on freeing the others. You work on keeping the robots from mobbing us all, alright? The idiot who kidnapped us failed to take our hidden blades from us - or at least from me." Ezio remarked as he swung over to the next person who was trapped - a very irritated looking Altair.

Connor nodded, flying down and raking several robots' chassis as he picked up one of them, circling up high and dropping it on a group of others, internally grinning when he saw sparks fly as several robots stopped moving. The young man landed, switching into his human form, smashing robots using one of his hidden blades and his tomahawk, cutting through large swathes of the insect-like robots, dodging and weaving their attacks.

As soon as Altair was cut free, he dropped down to the wooden boards, deliberately hitting several robots and rolling to reduce the force of the impact, pulling his swords and hissing "This is for hurting my little brothers, you metallic shits!" as he charged into the fray. Connor made his way over to Altair, and the two of them kept their back to one another as they continued to fend the robots away from the others. Ezio called out, voice full of worry "The others are still unconscious, and I'm not sure if letting them drop will wake them up or not! Most of them got knocked out by that gas, after that smug flower fucker captured the two of us."

"{Then try to get them to a relatively safe place. Connor might be able to rouse them with his healing ability, but we need to fight our way through the robots and get to the villain first. They have waves of robots attacking all over the city - major banks, hospitals... Even apartment complexes.}" Haytham chimed in mentally, a he landed heavily on several robots, his jaws closing around what looked to be several of the smaller robot's attempts to form one of the larger robots that had been such a problem to deal with in past fights, from Connor's experience. "{Particularly since this villain has access to an Apple of Eden.}"

"I'm going to ask why he knows your name later, Aquila." Altair (their team leader) responded "Then again, he is a- ... Did... Did you just say what I thought you said?" The other started to pale a little.

Connor explained what he'd been able to find out from interrogating one of the warehouse guards, as Ezio continued to cut the others free, carrying them to a spot where the robots wouldn't be able to get them immediately - especially since Altair, Connor and Haytham were keeping a path clear for the Italian to move their still unconscious friends. "Not just about the apple - but what healing ability? Aquila how does he know this?"

"This isn't the time to have this conversation." Connor muttered quietly "We're being watched by cameras - apparently we're to give the captive populace a heroic but ultimately tragic performance."

"... Shit." Altair and Ezio both cursed, both of them redoubling their efforts to get get the others free and to fight through the seemingly endless sea of robots to get to where the villain was watching them - a red-golden figure up at the top of the warehouse. Altair spoke lowly "Once we cut a swath through these assholes, I'm going to help E get the rest of our teammates further away. Do you think that you and Silver Wolf can handle this for a little while?"

"Yeah, we should be able to." Connor responded - Haytham mentally agreed with the younger hero's statement, and Altair nodded - rushing off to go help Ezio get the others clear.

~

It took what felt like hours for the two of them to clear enough of the skittering, insect-like robots out of their way to the entrance to the warehouse - and instead of trying to guess the code to get in, Haytham ripped the door off its' hinges and the two of them went charging through, fighting through even more robots. These were the large, conglomerates that, when struck in a way that would make a single large robot stop functioning, the smaller robots that hadn't been damaged broke free and started to attack him.

It was a long, exhausting and irritating battle, but the two of them were able to get up to the door that the villain was behind. Haytham turned back into his human form and with a small, flirty smile at Connor, he yanked the door open, entirely unimpressed by how easily the locked door gave way beneath his strength.

The villain glared at them and growled "How dare you! You were supposed to fight all of my precious darlings, not skip right to me! I'll show you why you shouldn't have done that. I-"

Haytham tackled the other, wrestling with them and throwing Connor a small remote and saying "They were about to start the sequence which would have set off a bomb, implanted in the floor of this warehouse! It's strong enough to take out half of the waterfront!"

"I, the Purple Pimpernel would be happy to die for my cause!" The villain hissed - but there was a... Strangely flat affect to their voice "It is cowardly that you wouldn't do the same, you cowardly heroes! I was trying to give you a heroic last stand - allowing you to fight to try to save your comrades, before being overwhelmed by my-what... What are you doing?" The villain started to struggle more, as Connor carefully made his way over to where the pair of them were wrestling, his hands glowing quietly with healing energy.

"You've been affected by the Apple as well. I can tell - your eyes are gold." Connor responded quietly, recognizing the odd golden sheen that people who's minds and wills had been hijacked by a Piece of Eden had in their eyes. He'd seen this only once before, and it had been horrifying. He pulsed the energy through the villain, smiling a little when they stopped struggling.

"I... W-why are y-you holding me down, S-silver Wolf? Do you know how I got here?" The person stuttered, looking down at themselves and tugging at the dark purple spandex outfit they were wearing. "I... There was... I don't know how I got into this outfit, I swear! Someone... Someone approached me with a strange glowing ball, and told me that I would have to help them, whether I... I wanted to or not. I... They were supposedly a good friend of mine, they name was-" The person continued, starting to choke as white foam filled their mouth. "They... were my former e.."

Connor's eyes widened a little and he frantically tried to pour more of his energy into the person, recognizing the signs of acute cyanide poisoning - but the toxin was working too quickly for the young man's powers to overcome it "No!" the young man cried out, pouring even more healing energy into the rapidly dying person.

Haytham put a hand on the younger hero's shoulder murmuring quietly "I'm sorry, Connor. But they're gone. I felt their mind slip away a couple of moments ago. I was able to get a bit of a description of what this person looked like, so all wasn't in vain."

The younger hero nodded, looking at the control panels around them - and through the opened door, frowning a little as the robots continued to scurry up the stairs after them "Did you... Did you also get how to stop the robots?"

"Yes. It was the first thing that they told me mentally, once you were able to remove the Piece of Eden's control over their mind... Which I think was when the cyanide first hit." Haytham responded, going over to one of the control panels and quickly putting in several code. "Whoever it was who took over their mind with the Piece of Eden hadn't asked for control of the robots yet - wanting to make sure that they were good enough to be used. The 'bots were nearly ready, but the part of the Pimpernel's mind that whoever was in possession of the Piece of Eden wasn't completely able to take control over, implanted kill switches in all of them, that was connected here."

"Oh... At least there's that..." Connor responded unhappily, starting to go through the computer, frowning a little in shock and worry as he started to go through the files "According to these files, whoever took over the Pimpernel's mind - this... this person was able to have contact with dozens of low-level villains and gang leaders all over the US - all over the world, from what looks like it... The Pimpernel was the one to apparently keep some of the records as - shit!" Connor realized that a virulent computer virus had just been released, destroying the precious information, detailing a massive operation that could throw the world into utter chaos, destroying the information - and though the young man was able to slow the virus' assault, six more viruses popped up, and the young man wasn't accomplished enough of a hacker to stop the viruses.

"There may be a way to reverse the damage done, and get some of the information back. We need to deal with the bomb beneath the warehouse." Haytham responded, lightly touching one of Connor's shoulders. "This was a victory. Perhaps not as clear a victory as we would have wanted, but one nonetheless."

"I... Yeah. You... You're right. Should we defuse the bomb, or wait for a bomb squad? I have basic training, but I... I don't know how complicated a bomb is under there." Connor responded as he followed the older hero out of the command room, making their way around inert robots, heading straight for where the bomb was buried.

Haytham looked intently at it - using his second sight to do so. Connor just saw a mess of bright red wires and lines when he did, so the young man wasn't sure what the other was looking for. The older hero started to grin "It seems as if the Pimpernel wasn't as completely under the control of this mysterious puppet master as the latter probably would have liked. They did build a bomb alright... But a smoke bomb. It would cause some minor smoke inhalation if one was standing right on top of it, like the two of us, and it would decrease visibility for over six blocks in every direction for several hours... But this wouldn't be able to kill anyone, unless they had a severe allergy to smoke."

The young man let out  silent sigh of relief - he had no reason not to trust the other's words -and as he continued to look at the construction of the bomb, he recognized the design as a smoke bomb, rather than anything more deadly. "I... Y-you're right!"

The two of them could hear the distant wail of sirens, and Haytham sighed quietly "You should probably help your teammates get to safety - I am well aware of the secretiveness of your Brotherhood. But before you do, I want to give you a little something."

"Oh, what?" The younger hero asked, coming closer to Haytham as the telapath urged him closer.

"This." Haytham responded, before pulling the other into a kiss. The two of them separated after a couple of moments,. "I love you, Connor."

"I love you too!" The young man responded, and with that Connor rushed out of the nearest window, clambering up and finding an unconscious Shaun and a semi-conscious and crabby Desmond glaring at his legs as he tried to move. The kiss lingered on his lips as he helped carry his teammates into the small bus that Altair had commandeered, as Connor couldn't help the small smile that lifted the corners of his lips.

"Right, we need to head back to base. I was able to contact Chevalier, while you were off battling robots with Silver Wolf. We need to head to Homestead." Altair responded, noting the other's good mood and smiling a little himself. "I don't know how you were able to get the robots from overwhelming us - but they had made our position - Ezio was in favor of trying to set them on fire."

"Ezio, why would that help? They're made of metal. It's not like they could feel pain." Connor chastised lightly.

"Yeah, yeah. It wasn't the best plan, but what else were we supposed to do? I had my hands full trying to drag Rebecca to safety, and it might have slowed them down." The Italian hero responded, sighing a little. The three of them talked to one another, the entire six hour drive up to Homestead, in order to keep one another awake - the others woke slowly, but the fact that they did was a good thing.

Once they reached the unspoken US capital of the Brotherhood, the small bus came to a complete halt as Connor (they had switched drivers every couple of hours, in order to make sure that the driver was at least somewhat alert) parked it in front of where they were supposed to be.

Ezio managed out weakly, yawning as he did so "I texted Chevalier. He said we could sleep in here - the medics will check us over."

Connor nodded in understanding, reclining his chair a little and leaving the doors unlocked as he fell asleep, glad to be in a place where he knew for certain that all of them were completely safe.


End file.
